Americans went back to work, and work sucks even worse than before

The eternal useless quest for a work-life balance in the U.S.

Photo by Claudia Barbosa from Pexels

Unfortunately, people had to pay rent and eat, so they returned to work. But after their brief covid induced pause, they find the workplace even more detestable than before. Understaffed, busier, and filled with zero experience, hired off the street new workers desperately trying to fill the void. Oh, and bosses doubling down on having the upper hand at all times.

Do we deserve these crapy working conditions? The present American working system status quo thinks so. Of course, working is hard, and no matter what kind of job you have, it will always be hard. Don’t call us lazy, please. But what employees crave the most is a life-work balance, something inexistent in America.

Making money or even making good money pales in comparison to the value of having work satisfaction and work-life balance. When workers can’t get their life in balance, a deep dissatisfaction sets in and it festers year-round, year after year. Unfortunately, this is only going to get worse.

People see life evaporating before their eyes while they miss all the opportunities to explore, to be with friends and family. And it is not like when we lived in the middle ages and life was all about surviving. We live in a world of wealth and opportunity but only for a few.

So why couldn’t we have a system where everyone gets to participate rather than just a few fat cats at the top having it all? It would not even cost that much. People want a little more space to breathe, more respect.

The whole working model in the US needs a total revamp, and until that happens, there will be deep dissatisfaction and less productivity. The business model is one in which workers must produce massive profits for shareholders at the expanse of everything else.

The product is the profit and not the product. These gigantic profits come at a tremendous cost — the worker's life-work balance. Why can’t we offer something of value to our workers? What about the four days week workweek?