The Scaling of American Stress (And How We Fix It)
We're better at this, honestly, than at scaling products.
I’ve written a bunch about workplace stress and burnout. It’s a hard topic to keep writing about, because it doesn’t seem to improve that much and generally bosses do not care about it so long as tasks are being hit. I sometimes think the worst thing Bezos did for modern capitalism — and that’s a decent-sized list — is that he kept preaching “Turnover is natural, don’t worry about it.” That led to a lot of MBA guys thinking, “Eh, this peon will leave eventually. I’ll burn him or her to a crisp while he or she is here.” Plus: we’ve known for about 40 years that affluent people literally see others differently, but we don’t say that out loud enough.
I get a lot of different newsletters in the AM. This morning, I got a few as well. From Planet Money, you have this section:
Which means that we’re only going to be more stressed in the coming year. Why? Because we’re almost certainly headed into a recession. The Conference Board, a non-profit business research group, puts the likelihood at 99 percent in the next 12 months. The National Bureau of Economic Research’s models say there’s a 67 percent possibility. Bankrate’s experts say there’s a 64 percent chance. The Wall Street Journal puts it at 61 percent. Clearly the numbers are all over the place. But however you slice the data, whether we go in sooner or later, hard or soft, it does look as though we’re going in.
Which means a lot more stress, for a lot more people. And stress is bad news for the economy. More than a quarter of adults told the APA that when they are stressed, they cannot bring themselves to do anything. At all. That kind of paralysis, at home, at work, and when handling one’s finances, has profound implications for all of us.
Then, from Wall Street Journal, this:
Half of workers put in minimal effort to get by, and a growing share are resentful that their needs aren’t being met, according to a survey of more than 60,000 people in the U.S. by Gallup, which has tracked Americans’ job sentiments since 2000. In some cases, they are disgruntled over low pay and long hours or have lost trust in their employers. American workers are among the most stressed, tied with workers in Canada and parts of East Asia.
As for “put in minimal effort to get by,” typically old-school MBA types view that as “These kids are jokes” (ignoring the reality that they raised similar kids) and new-school TikTokers are like “OMG, like, Act Your Wage!” In reality most white-collar work isn’t that hard, and is frankly often meaningless.
So, it’s worth looking at where we stand:
COVID changed the connection of many people back to work, i.e. they cared less about work.
There are more platforms and things to “hustle” and sell refurbished baby cribs and all that.
But, inflation is a reality, as is greed-flation and as is shrink-flation. So, you need more money.
Employers typically aren’t very good at flexibility and autonomy and work-life balance and even stable long-term employment in “at-will” environments.
Many people are not financially literate (which you can argue is a goal of those in power, too).
It can feel like we’re all out here just trying to find any path that will work.
And that’s where the whole “scaling stress” thing comes in. Of course we’re stressed, because we’re at the intersection of Meaningless, At-Will Workplaces Soon To Be AI-Driven and Stark Economic Realities. It’s the same reason we’re generally having less kids. A million Substack authors have posted the chart of “desired female reproduction,” which is often 3–4 kids, and “reality reproduction,” which is often 1–2. What cuts that in half? Well, besides coming to hate their husband and their husband’s sperm suffering from sedantary work and craft IPAs? It’s economic reality. Four kids is expensive. So is general life.
Scaled stress makes sense.
Alright, so what do we do now?
Well, first off — I’d say care less about work. Do the best you can, but turn off at some point. Work is not designed to love you back. I turn my laptop and phone off at 5pm on the dot most days, unless there’s something truly important and/or I’m going out that night. It’s just not worth it. Engage in other things.
Secondly, if you are a manager, realize that you potentially have more impact on the lives of your direct reports than anyone, including their kids, spouse, dog, etc. Managers are a very important cog in the white-collar ecosystem, and often they barely appreciate that. If you’re a horrible manager, you directly/indirectly destroy dinner times, sex lives, stress levels, energy levels, and much more. Managers often just think of this as “can’t make an omelette without breaking a few eggs,” except in this case eggs are human existences. Not good.
Third, I mean, just try to have sex more?
Fourth, just get outside, lift some weights, text a friend, make a fancy coffee, watch a YouTube, etc. Stress usually comes from the disconnect of “what I want” vs. “what I am doing,” or some schism in expectation vs. reality. It is hard to manage (drugs can help too, not the illicit kind) but it’s possible. We got really good at scaling stress and burnout, and now it’s time to start scaling things the other way.
What’s your take on stress and its reduction?