The New York Time's article A Toxic Work World nicely summarizes the growing Darwinian nature of traditional jobs. Key quote:
FOR many Americans, life has become all competition all the time. Workers across the socioeconomic spectrum, from hotel housekeepers to surgeons, have stories about toiling 12- to 16-hour days (often without overtime pay) and experiencing anxiety attacks and exhaustion. Public health experts have begun talking about stress as an epidemic.
The people who can compete and succeed in this culture are an ever-narrower slice of American society: largely young people who are healthy, and wealthy enough not to have to care for family members.
The article's author suggest a number of policy and legal changes to make it work easier and more flexible. But the article points out getting new laws and policies passed and implemented will not happen quickly or easily.
Interestingly enough, the article did not mention the millions of people who are choosing to become independent workers because so many traditional jobs have become toxic.
Over the past couple of weeks we covered how people choose between traditional jobs and independent work and how Darwinian work environments lead more people to choose independence.
It's something we constantly find in our research - people want work autonomy, control and flexibility and are turning to independent work in growing numbers to get it.
This is rarely covered in the media, which instead is focused on criticizing on-demand economy work.
But there are some exceptions.
The Huffington Post's Wealth and Freedom: The New Definition of Rich covers the growing importance people are placing on flexibility and schedule control. Key quote:
Being "rich" is no longer solely defined by how much money you make. Today, freedom is valued nearly as much as income. For a growing part of the workforce, making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year while working 60-80 hours a week isn't a worthy trade-off. In fact, many people turn to entrepreneurship for exactly this reason: they want the opportunity to make big bucks while maintaining control over their own schedules.
The article points out going independent is not easy. But compared with toxic work environments, it's often well worth it.
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