In the past few weeks, a lot of media has been painting a pretty pessimistic view of work.
A widely circulating report declared that over 70 percent of Canadians want to leave their jobs in the next year. An episode of the popular Canadaland podcast tackled “how work got so sh*tty.” The Bank of Canada announced it’s time to “break the emergency glass” and improve our productivity, which might imply more output per working hour. For those already disenchanted with work or looking for alternatives, demanding higher performance levels feels like a risky move—if you believe the headlines.
Is there something unique or different about how people are talking about work right now? Yes and no.
Coming out of the 2008 financial crisis, Hewitt’s 2010 Best Employers in Canada study found that, in 2009, average employee engagement was high, at 65 percent. A year later, it was up to 69 percent. Similarly, digging deeper into the report about everyone being unhappy with work finds that only 18 percent of employees are actually dissatisfied with their current job. Employee engagement is always reported to be highest when the economy is poor. This is because in tough or uncertain times, people are less likely to say they are looking to change jobs because a move feels riskier.
When it seems like everyone is being critical of work, it might have less to do with the overall state of work and more to do with how they feel about their own future and ability to control it.
When people feel insecure about their future career prospects or perceive a lack of control over their career path, it impacts their views of their current work environment. This can lead to increased criticism or dissatisfaction with work, even if the actual conditions of work remain relatively unchanged. In short, the way people feel about their own career path can significantly impact their attitudes about the workplace.
Managers having future-focused career conversations with employees is the fastest and least expensive way to boost employee engagement and retention. It turns out simply knowing that others see a way forward helps individuals imagine various possible futures and take more control over the decisions that are within their control. It fosters stronger loyalty to their employers and stronger career ownership.
The (perceived) trend of everyone being cynical and unhappy with work often focuses on youth and young adults in particular, and gets tied to broader, pressing social issues like affordability and the cost of living, housing, and climate change. Global News and the Toronto Star recently reported that “the kids are not OK.” While Canada overall ranks 15th out of 143 countries in the 2024 World Happiness Report, “for people under 30 years old, Canada ranks way down at 58th.”
In turn, stories of novel employment solutions and career paths emerge about how young people are meeting these challenges. On one end of the spectrum, an H&R Block Canada survey found that 28 percent or nearly nine million Canadians have taken on gig work, up from 13 percent in 2022, in order to make ends meet. We know that gig workers in Canada tend to be from younger age groups. On the other end of the spectrum, a recent Toronto Life investigation explored “confessions from the new and intentionally underemployed” Gen Z and millennial labour force, opening with “the 40-hour workweek sucks. Ambition is overrated. Life is short.”
It’s easy to think that everything has changed. To be sure, we are entering new territory with climate change, late-stage capitalism, and more. But despite all the hype about challenges surrounding work, the cycles of how work changes over time haven’t necessarily changed all that much—and we have the tools to navigate them.
Change, including revolutionary change, follows predictable patterns. New technologies always create new challenges and opportunities. Every generation brings new expectations to work and a desire to reject what they saw holding their parents back. AI and hybrid/remote work are changing the nature of work today, just as the creation of the Internet and smart devices changed work before.
While hating on work can be cathartic and unifying for a short time, we propose that work and workplaces might actually provide the cure to some of life’s greatest current challenges. Viewing workplaces as one of the only true places where people from different echo chambers come together for a common purpose can be powerful. We have an opportunity to build a future where work serves us all in the ways we need and want it to.
Yes, this is an optimistic view of work. But, at Challenge Factory, we love work. We love studying it, challenging outdated thinking about it, implementing new ways of working, and helping leaders and individuals fall back in love with their work. We don’t study work because we think it’s a problem. We study it because we think it’s important and has value to individuals and communities (beyond allowing us to pay for our basic needs).
Understanding the need to delve deeper beneath what everyone is talking about and feeling to find the underlying topics that are going unnoticed right now, Challenge Factory has brought on Dr. Candy Ho as a Research Advisor.
Candy is a brilliant leader in Canada’s career development sector, with strong research and teaching expertise at the post-secondary level, and the same love of work as Challenge Factory. She has the same love of helping people of all ages find purpose as they navigate education and the workforce. Together, we’ll be partnering to grow our shared research capabilities—including our commitment to rigorous, innovative research-to-practice services and solutions—and the collective impact we have across our communities.
We couldn’t be happier to get to work.