What today’s workplace is doing to your health

A controversy ensued when Apple and Facebook announced in October they would cover the cost of freezing ova, alongside other reproductive benefits provided to their employees. A boon to couples struggling with infertility, the cryogenic option was nevertheless interpreted by some observers as an inappropriate approach to the continuing problem of gender inequality and an unwelcome insinuation of corporate interest into the private lives of female workers. The gesture also played into building anxiety about long hours and stress risks, for both men and women, in a global workplace that insatiably consumes private time.

What seemed at first like a generous idea thus ran off the rails when it hit public opinion. Viewed in this frame, the suggestion that women should freeze their eggs in order to persist in the family-unfriendly, health-endangering work pattern that threatens the well-being of both male and female employees sounded a bit like “let them eat cake”. As I wrote on my own blog, how far are we willing to go before we admit it’s the workplace that needs surgery and not the bodies of young women?

A 24/7 work culture

The wall-to-wall demand for time that corporations now force on their salaried employees is unprecedented. Often disingenuously dismissed as an unintended consequence of technology, the widespread ethic that commandeers all the hours in a week as the natural right of employers is a recent and frightening development that presents grave risks to advanced nations, in the form of rising healthcare costs, ageing populations, reduced ability to innovate, and, especially, compromised families.

The stress that results from a loss of control over your own time, as well as from the inability to set aside protected moments in which to regenerate, exercise and maintain social connections, creates a distinctive pattern of negative responses in the body. The organizational attitudes – bullying, posturing, unreasonable expectations – that all too often underpin such circumstances themselves contribute to a peculiarly dangerous profile of fat deposits, suppressed autoimmune processes, heart problems, and, for women, declining fertility.

Ironically, the unrelieved stress that has become a daily norm also compromises cognitive ability. People under stress are more forgetful and less able to see the possibilities in the world around them, thus less able to take considered decisions or come up with innovative solutions. Far from improving productivity, the demand that employees work all the time compromises quality. Stress, as they say, makes you stupid.

Rather than deal with their own contribution to the health risks of their employees, many corporations have offered an array of benefits, from on-site gyms to stress counselling, programmes that, however well-intentioned, shift the seat of responsibility to the individual.  Since the stress response results from organizational pressure and is likely to have negative implications for everyone, it would be far more effective to focus on the problem at its source – excessive working hours. Until that happens, we are likely to see more fat folks with bad hearts and lost keys.

The hidden cost of long work hours

Gender inequality in the workplace continues for similar reasons: the proliferation of programmes and benefits takes attention away from the main problem. Since the equality legislation enacted during the 1970s throughout North America and Western Europe, many policies and programmes have been adopted to assimilate women into the workforce and help them advance. There has been a particular focus on issues surrounding maternity: reproductive health benefits, maternity or parental leave, and various day-care offerings. European countries assumed the cost of such programmes, mandating leave and providing for daycare. Canada, the US and the UK put the burden on the private sector, a move that is often interpreted as a failure to provide for women. However, without tackling deeply rooted stereotypes that hold women back and a working culture that is harmful to both women and men, we will not make progress.

The negative repercussions for continuing on the path of ever-increasing work hours will affect productivity, innovation, growth, social stability and costs for a long time to come. Worse, our direction points to a soulless future where we are all obese, stressed, isolated and dumbed-down. What impact will such fathers and mothers have on their children? It’s not worth whatever benefit these marginal hours may squeeze into profit. If true leaders would decide to step away from personal prejudice and instead pursue the equality goals we know are best for everyone, the next generation’s story might have a happier ending.

Author: Linda Scott is DP World Chair for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the Saïd Business School, University of Oxford. Her blog is The Double X Economy. 

Image: A broker rests after monitoring share prices during morning trading at a securities company in Jakarta October 13, 2008. REUTERS/Dadang Tri