My mission is to change working life as we know it.
It is high time that we do. Studies have shown that stress-related mental health issues have sky-rocketed in the past few decades and that more than half of all global workers are unhappy in their work. Ever since the pandemic people have been opting out of their work and careers in numbers never before witnessed and many of those who haven’t actually opted out, dream of doing so.
It is clear that something has got to give.
I opted out of a career myself about a decade and a half ago to start working on a PhD. It wasn’t something I had planned – although I had been dreaming about doing something else. I came to a point when I realized that I just had to do something about my situation. Going on the way I had was out of the question, and I needed to create a lifestyle for myself where I could live and work in a way that worked for me. It wasn’t easy – opting out never is – but in hindsight, it turned out to be a good choice. Haven’t regretted my decision for a second.
Still, ever since I started researching opting out, it has been pretty clear to me that I don’t want to be an opting out coach. I don’t want to dedicate my life to helping others opt out too. I don’t believe that is a sustainable solution.
Opting out isn’t easy. It’s not something people do on a whim. Most of the time it happens because a person just cannot continue living and working the way they have. It is a time of crisis, of turmoil and of searching, and, despite what influencers and the like may tell you, there are no guarantees that a person comes out of a crisis better and stronger. I don’t think we should idealize crisis as the catalyst for change it can be.
That’s why, instead of helping people opt out, I have made it my mission to help create workplaces that people won’t feel a need to leave. I want to be involved in creating workplaces where people can thrive instead of being the sites of suffering that so many workplaces are today. This is what my research has been about. I mean, we know a lot about why people leave, but what do we really know about how to organize work so that they won’t long to leave?
These are some of the questions my research provides answers to and I’m writing a book about it as we speak. But lately, I have been wondering if I’ve actually gotten it all wrong. Can we change workplaces from the inside or is opting out necessary?
I remember a few years when I first met my friend and colleague Birgitta Wahlberg. She is an incredibly inspirational woman. She is a researcher and activist and she is key in changing our understanding of and laws on animal rights. She is a firebrand and an iconoclast. I met her when she was giving a talk about the shocking treatment of animals in the food industry, and she said something profound. She said that there are two ways society can change, either through crisis and devastation which forces change, or by planning and implementing the change in a controlled fashion before everything crashes. She pointed out, however, that unfortunately humanity tends to choose the former. We tend to not make big changes until we are absolutely forced to.
I think about this often. I mean, this is also it is true for individual opting out processes. People seldom opt out until they experience some sort of crisis that pushes them to do so. But does it have to be that way? And more importantly with regards to what I’m trying to achieve, does it have to be that way for organizations?
Part of the problem is that we need a systems’ shift. We need to redefine how we think about work, and we need a change not only our practices but also our actual understanding of work and of how we organize work.
When people come to listen to me talk about my research, they generally agree with me. They agree that something has got to give. But then they go back to their organizations and it’s business as usual. It’s as if they know on an intellectual level that we need change, but they are so caught up in the system and their everyday work that being the change just isn’t on their horizon. Also, in this competitive economy, where organization work hard to survive, it is hard to be the one to break the pattern and do something differently.
So, the question I’m struggling with is, am I naïve to think that we can do this? Can we change working life as we know it in a controlled fashion before everything crashes and burns? Do organizations even want to?
The thing with change is that it simply doesn’t happen unless you experience some kind of light-bulb moment that makes the change feel absolutely crucial. This is what a crisis does. And acute environmental issues or health issues do among others don’t seem to be providing the light-bulb moment organizations need. But, maybe and increasing number of people refusing to stay can? A lot of people researching opting out seem to believe so.
There are of course organizations that are already doing great things. But on the most part it is still business as usual.
So, tell me, have I got it wrong? Can we inspire organizations to change working life as we know it? Can we create change from the inside or is that just not disruptive enough? Or should I rather be putting my energy on coaching people on how to leave?
What do you think?