The Teaching and Learning Innovation Digest - May 2023

OVERWORK
THE NEW NORM
Syed Abdul Imran
Student, Software Engineering Technology - Artificial Intelligence (AI),
School of Engineering Technology and Applied Science (SETAS)
amount of work and effort we contribute to an
organization. Without having ways to grade or
calculate such dedicated work, we are often left
out with no motivation and little perseverance,
which even demotivates us as we look at
our paychecks.
In my opinion, we should work with the same
dedication shown by our employer to earn
our pay while also having a healthy
work-life balance.
The afflictions of “overwork”
With underlying labor laws and big companies
expecting and encouraging the 996
ideologies (9am to 9pm, six days a week)
from employees, today’s generation reflects
this “norm”. And in my opinion, moving away
has cost jobs for many, be it an immigrant or
domestic labor.
Organizations want their employees to work
more than 40 hrs. per week to fill the gaps in
productivity and success but often ignore labor
laws, overtime pay, rewards and recognition,
employees’ health and benefits. In the article,
“Elon Musk praises Chinese workers for
‘burning the 3am oil’ - here is what that reality
looks like,” Chan (2022) used Musk’s name
to hook the reader by saying he is trying to
appreciate the Chinese labor for pulling high
work hours but moves on and shows us a
glimpse of the ‘overwork culture’. He however
failed to question bonuses, rewards, and
recognitions which would have a fair and
reasonable practice. The writer didn’t try to
pinpoint the flaws and gaps, but instead used
conjunctions to portray the argument.
The further we dwell on high productivity
and exquisite results which are correlated to
extensive hours of dedication and focus, postproduction
results have put the companies in
awe and have in-fact set their expectations
high. Going beyond the lines to meet
expectations and the desire to prove we are
important in a work environment has always
provided healthy competition, but moving
up the ladders in a company’s work position
pyramid has been the major cause of overwork
and donation of extra hours. In the article “Big
Tech dilemma: Overwork culture ‘still needed’,
Xiaoyi and Lanlan (2021) talks about why we
have accepted it as the norm and the social
factors revolving around it. This article portrays
some eye opening incidents that sheds light
on the understanding of the greater factors in
overwork culture.
Furthermore, as big companies focus more on
improving statistics, they often end up ignoring
severe underlying health issues. In the article
“The Research is Clear: Long Hours Backfire
for People and for Companies,” Green (2015)
intensively stands for the health issues and
problems associated with overwork culture
while highlighting the research she led behind
this argument. Also, Green talks about how
overwork was never beneficial or fair to a
judge on a larger scale as it came with invisible
impacts including sleep deprivation, inability to
focus, physical and mental issues, and most
importantly, peace of mind. Yet many of us
still choose to prove our work efficiency or get
replaced eventually.
To conclude, in a post-pandemic world, today’s
generation overlooks overwork culture as
a known underlying factor even though we
are a part of it, why? Because we can hardly
make any change without categorizing the
In this short clip Abdul Syed reminds us
not to take life for granted and to take a
break from our busy schedules to enjoy
life. Working hard is important, but it’s
also important to not overwork yourself.
It’s okay to take some breaks, get
outside, and do whatever allows you to
relax. Take some time to yourself so you
can achieve a healthy work-life balance.
EDITOR’S NOTE BY CENTENNIAL COLLEGE
ALUMNUS
“I Tend to Overwork”
Shannon Attard
Grad. Student,
School of Communications, Media, Arts and Design (SCMAD)
To provide some of my own reflection on
Abdul Syed’s article, I prioritize working hard
for my employers over a healthy work-life
balance. At the first job I got in my field I
worked as an intern. While working this job I
thought it was my chance to prove myself in
the writing field so after working seven hours
in person, unpaid, I would bring my job home
with me and work on content for a few hours
at night because I wanted to get noticed by
my manager. In my second job I didn’t bring
my work home with me, but I definitely took
shorter breaks to show my manager how
determined and hard-working I was to get
work done. I started feeling drained when I
would finish work and would feel tired the next
day. I maintain a healthy work-life balance now
by still being hard-working, but during working
hours. I stopped bringing my work home with
me for late nights and took the breaks I was
supposed to be taking, so that the work I was
doing was most efficient because I wasn’t
overworking myself.
A new concept went viral on TikTok by user
Marisa Joe Mayes called “Bare Minimum
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