Do You Prioritize Work Ethic Above Other Ethics?
We should care about people, not productivity.
In my first reflection on whether it’s possible that care workers could “care too much,” I argued that it’s not the feeling of care that’s at issue, but the attachment to the futures we imagine for the people in our care.
Now I call into question how much we care about work itself.
Our culture in North America is too invested in work, and that sets up workers for poor boundaries and eventual burnout. Hard work is expected, celebrated, and moralized as if our worth is tied to our productivity. Indeed, work ethic is valued above other ethics.
We see it in the ways that people are praised for consistently meeting deadlines, staying late, working through lunch, never taking sick days, or taking calls on their time off. We see it in interview questions. “Do you have a lot of energy?” a prospective boss asked me in a pre-screening call. “Tell me about your experience working in a fast-paced environment and juggling multiple responsibilities? Are you used to high caseloads?” (Seeing the red flags but needing an escape from another burnout job, I gave a tentative “Yeees” in response.) Seeking highly trained workers for undisclosed (i.e., low) salaries, employers list complex duties on descriptions for jobs that would be better split into two…