"A comment on Linked In at the end of 2025 - "if you still have a job at the end of 2025, *hug it*" The sentiment behind this comment reveals the dynamic in career narratives at the moment - anxiety about rising unemployment, AI replacing our roles. However, underneath the anxiety, we seem to have developed the idea that work is inherently not good for us, that employers are all inherently exploitative and employees are inherently exploited victims."
"This is understandable when the news is filled with stories of international monopolies holding turnovers larger than the GDP of nation states, acting with impunity. We don't want to spend our careers feathering the nests of those who already have too much so we're quiet quitting, prioritising self-care and not showing up. We're pleased with ourselves for redressing the balance with a withdrawal of our labor and loving the duvet days and the box set binges."
"According to the UK's Office of National Statistics, 60% of UK workers are employed in Small to Medium Enterprises and 18% in the public sector. Small businesses are part our community, our neighbours and the public sector is our civil infrastructure, the very fabric of society. Working to rule in these organisations isn't exactly "sticking it to the man". In the neurodiversity and disability communities our advocacy has been focused on improving employment rates for decades."
Rising fears about unemployment and AI have fostered a belief that work is inherently harmful and employers inherently exploitative, prompting trends like quiet quitting and prioritising rest. Many people withdraw labour as a form of redress while valuing duvet days and box-set binges, yet enjoying one’s job has become uncool and risks harming mental health. Most UK workers are employed in SMEs or the public sector, which serve community and civil infrastructure, so ‘working to rule’ there has limited impact as protest. Advocacy in neurodiversity and disability communities emphasises improving employment, since work participation supports social identity, inclusion and good health; not everyone has good work or choice, but those who do should exercise it.
Read at Forbes
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]