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If you suspect that the traditional workforce is more stressful than ever before — especially for women — you are right.
In January, The Huffington Post discussed constantly increasing workplace stress in an article titled The American Workplace Is Broken. Here’s How We Can Start Fixing It. Here are a few excerpts we thought you might find relevant:
Americans are working longer and harder hours than ever before. Eighty-three percent of workers say they’re stressed about their jobs, nearly 50 percent say work-related stress is interfering with their sleep, and 60 percent use their smartphones to check in with work outside of normal working hours. It’s no wonder that only 13 percent of employees worldwide feel engaged in their occupations.
The modern work world is a “broken and antiquated system,” according to Anne-Marie Slaughter, author of Unfinished Business: Men Women Work Family.
Stress is taking a significant toll on our health, and the collective public health cost may be enormous. Occupational stress increases the risk of heart attack and diabetes, accelerates the aging process, decreases longevity, and contributes to depression and anxiety.
It’s also hurting our relationships. Working parents say they feel stressed tired, rushed and short on quality time with their children, friends and partners.
We are reaching our limits. People working with big corporations can’t stand their jobs.
As active participants in the non-traditional workforce, we at Canopy believe that the best cure for stress (including its negative effects on health and family relationships) is a feeling of control and flexibility – the ability to choose the work you want to do as well as when and where you want to do it. A lot of objective research supports this opinion.
Control and flexibility allow you to accept the professional projects you enjoy and reject those you don’t — on your own terms. It allows you to take on fewer projects in the summer or over the holidays, when your children are home from school.
And while certain projects will always require phone calls and texts outside of a consultant’s self-determined business hours, knowing that you can scale back on the next project or take some time off altogether creates a feeling of space, energy, health and sanity in an otherwise stressed-out world.
We created Canopy to offer our professional consultants a solid and respectable alternative to the stressful traditional workforce. At the same time, our business clients are able to take advantage of fresh professionals who are not hampered by the stress and burnout of the traditional workplace.
