“The pressure to be an ideal worker is at an all time high, but so are the costs to both individuals and their employers.”
Time-hungry organizations abound the world over, with managers overloading their teams and expecting them to be at the organization’s beck and call, remaining tied to their electronic devices 24X7. While some employees log in early, clock out late, work weekends to rise to the demands of high-intensity workplaces, those that don’t or even display reluctance run the risk of getting penalized. Typically, today’s organizations pressure employees to become ideal workers i.e. people totally dedicated to their jobs and always on call. In such a work culture, any suggestion of meaningful outside interest or commitment tends to signal a lack of commitment or fitness for the job. It emerges that to be ideal employees, people choose and prioritize the demands of their jobs way above other parts or roles of their lives – jeopardizing relationships, sacrificing personal needs, and ruining their health. And an overwhelming number of people come to accept, despite themselves, that the rewards of conforming to the ideal worker paradigm outweighs the personal and physical costs it entails. While the pressure to stand tall as an ideal worker is well-established, how people cope with the pressure tends to remain unexplored. Recent research reveals there are hapless ‘ideal workers’ stifling other aspects of themselves, navigating stresses, and suffering dysfunctional consequences in silence. To be 100% present in an unrelenting work environment, they not only compromise themselves but even the organizations they work for. Such people typically resort to three coping strategies: accepting the demands of the ‘always available’ work culture, passing as members by clandestinely finding ways around the norm, or revealing their other identities and commitments at their own peril.
Accepting: In their urge to succeed, acceptors prioritize work over all else, sacrificing or suppressing other identities that they deeply value. Across industries and professions, many ‘ideal workers’ rue having given up dreams or neglecting personal lives. While the conforming strategy allows people to be super-achievers and advance their careers, a professional identity that “crowds out everything else makes people more vulnerable to career threats, because they have psychologically put all their eggs in one basket.” When job loss or other setbacks occur, acceptors find it particularly difficult to stay afloat, as other meaningful aspects of their lives have meanwhile withered away. Besides, champions of the ideal-worker culture also find it difficult to understand colleagues who find activities beyond the workplace meaningful and rewarding.
Passing: Sociologist Erving Goffman introduced this term to describe how people try to hide personal characteristics (such as physical characteristics and race) that might otherwise be humiliating or subject them to discrimination. The practitioners of this strategy devote time to ‘non-work’ pursuits and extra-organizational activities “under the organization’s radar”. Passers survive the 24×7 work-life by hiding parts of themselves and without giving their all to work. However, they also pay a psychological price by concealing crucial aspects of their identities. The organization too pays a high price for carrying inauthentic disengaged members, driven by their personal agenda.
Revealing: Some people openly share other significant part of their lives by asking for modification in their work, such as reduced schedules or responsibilities. While revealing allows people to be authentic and allows them to be more available to life, revealers often pay heavily in career advancement, sacrificing the credibility needed to push for change. Yet there are more effective ways to navigate the all-consuming work-life. Research shows, organizations would benefit from greater engagement, deeper involvement, higher levels of motivation if employees are allowed to draw lines between their professional and personal lives. The following would work too!
Developing a multifaceted identity – Deliberately cultivating a multifaceted identity that transcends one’s work identity guards against a fragility that accrues from blind acceptance of the ideal-worker standards. Outside activities and associations allow employees to seek knowledge, gain experiences, and forge relationships/networks that would otherwise remain unavailable to them or to their organizations. Minimizing time-based reward and recognition – The ‘passing’ strategy is often a result of evaluating employee dedication and contribution in terms of how much work people put in (or appear to put in), instead of the quality of their output. “Valuing work time over work product – which motivates people to deceive others about how many hours they are clocking – is an easy trap to fall into, especially for professionals whose knowledge-based work is difficult to evaluate.”
Protecting employees’ personal lives – While many employee-focused organizations leave it to their employees to set boundaries between their work and their non-work lives, complete freedom in exercising their choices can increase employees’ apprehensions that their choices can in turn signal a lack of commitment. Without direction, many employees suppress the need to live fuller and balanced lives, oscillating back mindlessly to the ideal- worker expectation.
Superhuman efforts with misplaced enthusiasm often go awry and may not contribute to business/organizational growth. Companies would be better served recognizing and valuing all facets of people’s identities, busting the ideal-worker myth that has entrenched itself in the fabric of corporate life.
