"Work-Life Balance" is a Scam

I really dislike feeling like I only live my life 2/7ths of the time (sat and sun). I feel robbed of my greatest resource - my time. I dont know how to escape this and still have my needs met.

“Fast paced work environment” gotta be one of the cringiest corporate terms of them all.

It’s crazy that we overextend our selves for our employers meanwhile if something happened to us that made us unable to work we would be REPLACED in a New York minute.

Work-Life Balance made sense in the 1970's because work wasn't 24/7. I mean even TV shut off at a certain time. There were no computers, fax machines, no smartphones, no social media. Things actually stopped. I mean there was a time department stores didn't open on Sundays, or holidays. There was a huge outcry here in NY when Old Navy actually opened ON Thanksgiving, right after the parade. There's NO work-life balance today because things simply don't stop.

“I went 7 years without a vacation” Yeah me too. It’s been seven years since I’ve been on any kind of trip because I can’t fucking afford anything because I’m broke, yet weirdly I’ve been working this whole time, so strange and unexplainable truly

I cringe when I hear employers use the term “work-life balance.” Reminds me of “we’re like a family here.” All just an attempt to sound like they care about you and they’re a “c00l b0$$” lol.

And on the 2 days you’re off, you feel tired from the previous 5 so all you want to do is rest !

Swedens answer: * 5 weeks paid vacationdays minimum yearly * paid parental leave 390 days + 90 days with lower pay *majority of the time healthpromoting benefits ( example 200 dollars yearly for gym membership, massage or workoutshoes etc.) * and a culture where unions are seen as normal and in the peoples best intrest

My job went fully remote when Covid started and I’m much more content working from home 😊 I don’t have to commute, have forced social interactions with coworkers, cook from home, save more money, fit in some exercises, etc. I do data entry and type a lot at work, so I play podcast or music when I’m working and it helps create a relaxing work environment.

I used to work in an office for almost 10 yrs. Then we went 100% remote during Covid. This helped me mentally SO much bc it was 1 less stressor in my life (physically being at work, working in a cubicle for 8 hrs). What also helped is I got another remote job that I actually really enjoy. This took me years to find though, so i understand ppl’s frustrations. Not offering this as a solution bc I understand how tough it is. Just sharing my journey, but I found that bc I enjoy my work I can unplug with ease. So maybe that’s the key. Finding something you enjoy doing so that it doesn’t feel like it’s over taking your life in a negative way. And an employer that isn’t just paying lip service and they really encourage you having a life (which mine does).

I’m printing shipping labels at 3am. You speaking FACTS😂😂

Because America is obsessed with individualism, the work-life balance "myth" is really just placing the responsibility of managing time, resources, and expectations on the cattle, I mean, employees....rather than a cultural shift that would bake in more time for rest and slowing down. Slowing down doesn't drive up profit margins!

i once had a discussion with my mom about workshifts i find most preferable, and when i brought up 2/2 shift she said that i couldn't plan my holidays with that shift like you do with 5/2. and i've just watched your video and now i sit like. wow. imagine having to rely on holidays so hard because you can't afford it in the middle of your worktime. it's just so sad.

This isn’t a commentary on you, really, but I find it fascinating how much was done to undermine younger generations’ independence before people started to notice, especially the middle class. I’ve had these conversations since I was a teenager so it never occurred to me other people didn’t think “work/life balance” while being expected to pull five ten or twelve hour shifts was weird or toxic. I assumed everyone else knew that based on statistics hours worked should’ve gone down significantly and “the gig economy” was a scam to keep people reliant on following their parents orders and we just didn’t talk about it for some reason.

Am in a book club rn watching The Wire and Severance, lowkey hard not to judge others when they ask things like "well why don't these characters just move somewhere else?" or even better "Are they taking supplements for their back pain?" It's great when people are willing to listen and ask questions but it's just exhausting to explain these topics to people who think they've achieved a work/life balance. Helps to have videos like these that I can throw at them or articles about the history of Union Busting in the US. People are legit shocked when they hear about Gregg Abbot preventing mandated water breaks for construction workers, y'all really just seeing this now huh?

I'd love to add, since I started working full time (I used to work part time when I was studying) I literally have not time left. I have to wake up early, I get home late just to cook my lunch for next day, take a shower and go to sleep. I'm so exhausted even if I have some hours left I don't have any energy left and I just want to sleep. On saturdays and sundays I mostly sleep a lot trying to get some rest.

Thank you so much ☺️ 🙏 hearing this unpicked some of the anxiety I’d been feeling about work - just acknowledging that our jobs aren’t great helps in a small way.

Lets not forget to mention that having the weekend off is also something that most retail employees don't even get. It adds to the mental stress when you spend your whole weekend working for customers that are relaxing all weekend; and then when you have some time off it's the middle of the week and there's nothing to do. Plus your days off usually aren't two in a row, it will be one day here, one day there.

13:50 Corporate wont care for solutions. Their way of thinking is: i got what i want, which is profits.. sounds like a "you" problem dawg. Any positive change in work (regarding the worker class) has been done by force. Corporations will only do something, if they have to. They will never do so, by their own choice. And why would they?

I work 6 days a week, it's been only 6 months and I'm already done with it, idk how much more I can take