Do Quit Your Day Job: Why Nobody Wants To Work Anymore
BY TULLY TEMPLEMAN.
Recently, myself and the rest of the Twitter-verse heard Kim K’s best piece of advice for women wanting to get into business: get your f**king ass up and work. Earth-shattering, I know. Regardless, it’s her follow up that intrigued me most – It seems like nobody wants to work these days. You need to surround yourself with people who want to work. In some ways, she’s not wrong – the US saw 47 million workers quit their jobs in 2021, an all-time high for the country, and Microsoft’s most recent Annual Report found that 41% of the global workforce is likely to consider leaving their current employer within the next year. It’s a phenomenon aptly titled The Great Resignation and the wave is slowly building in Australia as well. So why doesn’t anyone want to work anymore? And are the quitters onto something?
Jobs don’t work for people anymore
8 hours labour, 8 hours recreation, 8 hours rest. This was the 1850s blueprint for a healthy work life balance, but how possible is this today? Life is very different in the 21st century. The average Australian worker spends upwards of 48 minutes a day commuting, 13-30 hours a week on housework, and 6.13 hours doing unpaid overtime a week. With some quick maths, that 16 hours of R&R every workday dwindles to 12 or even less, depending on your circumstances. This, along with the digitalisation of work during the pandemic, has caused workers to experience burnout – the reason 40% of workers quit their jobs in 2021. Not only this, but the rising cost of living is also making the highest minimum wage Australia has ever had unliveable. Living in Adelaide on $772.60 per week or $40,175.2 ($35,858 after tax) a year, could leave people with just over $1,000 in overflow – given nothing in their life breaks down, needs replacing and they don’t have any medical needs.
People want more out of life
Having a work-life balance has long been a priority for workers but the global uncertainty and mortality that the COVID-19 pandemic blanketed the planet has pushed people into the existential realisation that maybe life is worth more than a 9-5, or any job for that matter. In Australia, 1 in 3 workers have cited a lack of meaning and the impact on their mental health as reasons to quit their jobs. Reduced or no work hours and the shift to working from home has given people more time to explore other aspects of their life, resulting in a yearning for more fulfilling work – even if that means earning less money. With the rise of social media, for better or worse, we are now fully aware of the successes of others. This can foster feelings of inadequacy and low self-esteem, but I won’t deny that a motivational quote here and a TikTok star’s jet setting story there doesn’t make me look around at life a little more. The uncertainty and upheaval that the COVID-19 pandemic brought to the world widened the cracks in the already broken system, but it seems that people have found the light peeping through and they want to live in it.
Bigger and better out there
I remember being in my high school business studies class, hearing my teacher tell us that there were jobs that didn’t exist now, but could be our careers one day. The birth of online platform jobs and the rise in side-hustling part-time business owners has made people reconsider their income. The well-traversed route of earning a degree, working hard at your job, and saving up isn’t cutting it for people anymore - and why should it? There are pre-teens earning millions from sponsored Instagram posts, OnlyFans creators buying houses from feet pics, and creatives quitting their jobs to make artisanal jewellery from their bedroom. Another pandemic influence – working from home. The global reach of social media and the internet means people can get themselves seen bigger and faster than ever before. The market is there, the platforms are free, and the return can be huge. With job uncertainty and dissatisfaction with 9-5, corporate work rising, it’s no wonder that the US saw its highest number of new business applications ever in 2021. But wait I thought nobody wanted to work anymore? Funny that since small business owners and entrepreneurs work typically upwards of 50 hours a week.
Jobs used to be a beacon of financial and personal security, but the mass decrease of work due to something as unforeseeable and uncontrollable as the COVID-19 pandemic has led people to lose faith in the regular 9-5. Business owners and corporations might be thinking the same thing as Kim K – why does no one want to work anymore? With the increase in small businesses, side-hustles might be the start of an answer. Maybe work was never people’s issue – they’re just finding security in something else more stable: themselves.
About the Author
Tully Templeman (she/they) is a Flinders Alumni, with degrees in Screen Production and Creative Writing. She loves creative non-fiction, inclusive storytelling, and any reason to dance. They are currently a Producer on Channel 44’s Couch 44, a youth talk show all about platforming Adelaide’s culture and people.
EDITORIAL NOTE: This article has been reuploaded and was originally published in 2022.