Author: Mona Klausing
“Just push through” is what our culture tells us to do when faced with stress. Oftentimes this is the worst possible advice, because living in a perpetual state of stress literally breaks down your body and rewires your brain – keeping you fearful, on alert and less capable of sound decision-making. 
Yet we glorify a culture of pushing through, overworking, side hustling, “work hard / play hard”. We tell our employees they are dedicated if they work late, respond to work emails while on vacation, or schedule “working lunches. Corporations press for accelerated launch timetables and demand unrealistic project deliverables without adequate staffing and resources. This helps their bottom line, but is a perfect recipe for burnout.
These are often the same companies that have “employee wellness programs” to give the illusion that management cares about their staff’s well being. Rather than paying lip service to wellness, though, companies ought to take greater action to preserve their workforce, prevent burnout and minimize turnover. Companies could start by re-prioritizing their spending (i.e. cutting exorbitant executive salaries and golden parachutes, minimizing waste spent on first/business-class travel, etc.), and re-allocating those funds for adequate staffing and more paid time off (2 weeks just doesn’t cut it).
Too often employees stay in high-stress jobs because they feel peer and societal pressure to accept an unhealthy corporate culture (“it is what it is”) or they lack viable career alternatives that can provide the same lifestyle they’ve grown accustomed to. Instead of leaving their stressful work environments, they may cope (or numb out) in other ways – drinking to excess, drugs, “retail therapy”, porn, mindless scrolling, stepping out on their partners, etc.
Employees who do experience burnout and take disability leave may face difficulties and stigma when returning to work. Often they are made to feel at fault for not being tough enough, not practicing adequate self-care, not setting boundaries, etc. Rarely is there accountability in the C-Suite for the harmful business practices that created the stressful work environment in the first place. Is it any wonder, then, that so many white collar workers are rejecting return to office mandates and increasingly seeking remote and hybrid positions?
Companies need to do a lot more to develop work cultures that sustain their most important assets – their employees. And employees need to recognize that their wellbeing is more important than a paycheck. Some of our most gratifying clinical conversations revolve around supporting clients in making career changes that provide both values-alignment and healthier lifestyles.
Stress Effects on the Body, APA, 2023
Rigid Return to Work Mandates May Backfire, Axios, 2023
Your High Pressure Company Culture is Costing You a Bucket of Money, Inc. 2021
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