Hustle Culture is a type of ‘workaholism’ that is perpetuated by showcasing how ‘busy’ you are and showcasing how you can juggle many things at once and it has almost become a gauge for workers productivity and their performance. In films such as the Devil Wears Prada, we are shown that the only way to get to the top is by working hard and compromising the rest of your life for your career, but is hustle culture as good as it is made out to be?
What is ‘hustle culture’?
According to Monster.com Hustle Culture aka, burnout or grind culture ‘refers to the mentality that one must work all day every day in pursuit of their professional goals’. Simply, wherever you are, whatever you are doing you work, in the hope that you will become more celebrated in the work environment. Most recently we have even seen CEO’s such as Elon Musk placing emphasis on how much his employee’s should work even taking to his own Twitter (now X) account to state “There are way easier places to work, but nobody ever changed the world on 40 hours a week.”
The harmful nature of ‘Hustle culture…
Many people believe that the more that they ‘hustle’ the faster they will move up the corporate ladder which a study published in Occupational Medicine proved to be true, however, on the flip side of this study, those exact same people also were found to have ‘significantly higher anxiety and depression symptom scores in respondents reporting long working hours compared with those reporting regular hours,’ With those under the age of 30, experiencing higher levels of burnout than those over the age of 30 and more likely to suffer with depression.
In a recent article by CIO, Warren Hero, CIO and CDO at law firm Webber Wentzel stated, “We need to shift this focus away from compliance and toward value. For the CIO, unlocking value means making sure that everyone is in the right seat on the right bus so they can contribute optimally, not maximally.” Many people agree, its not about working harder, but working smarter.
Is Hustle Culture a silent killer?
Hustle Culture and the effects of adopting this lifestyle not only can lead to poorer mental health but also leads to anxiety and tendency for depression. Overworking can also lead to a range of illnesses and conditions that negatively impact your life.
Is Hustle Culture productive?
In short, no. The idea is that by juggling lots of tasks at once, you are more effective in what you are doing but studies have shown that this is not true. “What we’re actually doing when we try to multitask is ‘task switching,’” states, Thatcher Wine, author of “The Twelve Monotasks: Do One Thing at a Time to Do Everything Better.” “All that task switching comes at a cost. It overloads our brains and causes a significant amount of stress. [Additionally], studies have shown that tasks take longer and we make more mistakes than if we had done one thing at a time.”
How can CIO’s work better than adopting Hustle Culture mentality?
Hustle Culture is not the most effective way to work, working more efficiently is the way to go, getting things done but in a lot less time but how do you do that?
Work Smarter, Not Harder
Focus on carrying out tasks efficiently, rather than spinning multiple plates at once. Write a to-do list and focus on what tasks are possible in one day and in what order they need carrying out and implement collaboration tools to allow employees to collaborate and work effectively.
Limit the number of meetings!
If your team are spending the majority of their time in meetings, they are not able to carry out the tasks that they need to complete, meaning to keep on top of workload they are often working out of their usual hours this adds to a negative hustle culture environment.
Lead By Example
By getting rid of the hustle culture mentality within your team you are helping to ease any mental frustrations within your team. Set focus hours for your team where they can particularly focus on tasks at hand in an adequate amount of time, promote efficiency instead of lengthy hours and watch the amount of overtime decrease. Also limit the number of out of hours emails you are distributing to your team. Allow your team to go home, rest and recuperate this will help create a rested and more efficient workforce.
