For too many people, work is crap.
That’s why the levels of employee engagement are pitifully low, why the majority of employees would change job tomorrow if a better opportunity arose and why the workplace is awash with apathy.
Too many work environments are toxic and harming the people in them, which is why
– stress, anxiety and depression are at record levels and rising
– people are dying from work-induced stress-related illnesses
– burnout is commonplace (and now a recognised illness)
– suicide levels are increasing (especially amongst men)
Human potential is being wasted on an epic scale as creative beings are made into mere cogs in the machine.
People feel trapped, resigned, powerless and there is an epidemic of learned helplessness.
But people are not powerless. They lack the vision and awareness of what is possible so that they can imagine a better work environment. They lack the tools, knowledge and contact to bring it about. They should expect more from work, they should start to demand more. They need to ‘find the others’, form their pirate crews and start a mutiny.
Break the rules about work and put better ones in their place.
Work has deteriorated over the past 30 years for a variety of reasons, a process I call “the crapification of work”, leading to the the toxic and failing systems we see today. It has been justified on the grounds of efficiency and profitability but it is counter-productive and failing on it’s own terms. It is unfit for purpose, killing the creativity, innovation and collaboration that organisations and the world needs to address the challenges and opportunities we face.
Work should be
- meaningful
- purposeful
- social
- safe
- rewarding
- nurturing
- human
- life-enhancing
Now is the time to start de-crapfiying work, to put people and purpose at it’s centre.
This is a win-win-win. Better for the people in workplaces, better for the organisations they are in and better for society and the planet.
Let’s decrapify work.
#decrapifywork