Work vs. Leisure

Starting at only five years old, Americans are trained to do well in school, work hard, and go to college with the end goal of getting a "stable career." However, these careers end up being the root of the problems people work so hard to avoid. The US government has established a system that ensures that anyone who wants to be successful must have a job and work hard. Yet, these jobs often don't provide them with the pay they deserve. This leads to Americans being overworked and stressed because of the pressure and workload of their jobs, without giving them a high enough salary or enough time for leisure activities and rest. The US government is responsible for developing this system, which focuses on how much people work instead of their health, quality of life, and reasonable pay. Therefore, they are at fault for the physical and mental effects. For this to change, regulations need to be created and enforced to protect workers and ensure they earn a reasonable salary to yield a higher quality of life. 

It does not come as a surprise that most US citizens' struggle with mental and physical illnesses and are often a direct effect of the work environment in our country. Studies show that work-related stress affects 83% of US workers, and with this comes many underlying issues for their happiness, productivity, and job attendance. According to the American Institute of Stress, "16% of workers have quit their jobs due to stress… 41% of stressed workers say stress leads to a loss in productivity… Stress causes around one million workers to miss work every day" (Boyd). From this, you can easily decipher that the workplace is doing more harm than good. When going to work each day, the ideal situation is to be in an environment and profession you can thrive in. Instead, harsh bosses, long hours, and low pay make people stressed and unmotivated, causing them to do their jobs inefficiently and not earn the salary they should be. Aside from the mental effects, long, stressful work days inflict physical illness on many people. As surprising as it sounds, long work hours have been proven to contribute to death and disability due to heart disease and stroke. Specifically, "An estimated 745,194 deaths and 23.3 million disability-adjusted life years", as stated in Science Direct (Pega). While it can be debated that other factors in people's lives or personal health can contribute to these complications as well, it still cannot discount the fact that work is causing too much stress without enough reward. 

While a career is obviously a way to make money, you should also get some enjoyment from it, along with enough free time to do things that genuinely make you happy. If people are working extra long hours at jobs that they hate and that cause enough stress to even contribute to an illness, it proves the flaws in our country's workforce's development over the years. With this extreme unhappiness coming from work, and little time to partake in activities that balance the stress and daily tedium, people turn to quick and temporarily effective ways to feel pleasure, like drugs and alcohol. This is also prevalent in Huxley's Brave New World, where almost every person in their society is accustomed to taking their drug, Soma, whenever they are stressed from work or their daily lives or want to feel some enjoyment. Mustapha Mond, the leader of their World State, claims, "And if ever, by some unlucky chance, anything unpleasant should somehow happen, why, there's always Soma to give you a holiday from the facts. And there's always Soma to calm your anger, to reconcile you to your enemies, to make you patient and

long-suffering" (Huxley, 162). This exemplifies how the drug is so endorsed in society that even their leader is outwardly recommending it. It became so popular because they realized how well it took away any pain. This foreshadows how the future of our country may be. Almost everyone drinks alcohol, and many people partake in some kind of drug, both recreationally and to relieve stress. The more hours people have to work at unrewarding jobs, the sooner these drugs will become as normalized as Soma in Huxley's world. Once consistent drug usage begins, worse issues will develop. With the stress developed from work and the build-up of side effects from using drugs, many people will, unfortunately, end up committing suicide because they feel like there is nothing left to do. A study done by California scientist, BongKyoo Choi and reported by Sarah Mitchell of the CDC states that "About 11% of the workers reported suicidal ideation… The odds for moderate to severe suicidal ideation were about four times greater in those with job strain or those who reported long work hours". This indicates that long and strenuous work hours cause so much pressure and misery that it puts people at risk of actually taking their own lives. This means that there needs to be a change in the workplace. It must become an environment where workers don't feel stressed and unhappy all the time, so they enjoy working extra hours instead of dreading it. As long as jobs continue to be a place of anguish, mental and physical health issues, along with suicide rates, will increase, while overall productivity at work will decrease. This will only lead to the country losing workers, and having simple tasks becomes less efficient. 

Unfortunately, most people who struggle with these issues are not being paid enough to compensate for the stress. Despite working for the same company, socioeconomic status plays a huge part in the lives people lead. Upper management workers are paid exponentially more than the average worker, and while this seems to make sense since upper management works at a more valued level, the contrast of pay should not be as different as it is. According to the Economic Pay Institute, on average, "CEOs were paid 351 times as much as a typical worker in 2020" (Mishel and Kandra). This creates a vast inequality between higher-level business people and their workers. While CEOs are making more money than they need, lower-level workers are not making nearly enough, causing them to fall into poverty and struggle greatly. They have to work longer and more vigorous hours than CEOs to support themselves, their families and pay their taxes, even though a shift in the "CEO-to-worker compensation ratio" would aid this issue. This could be fixed by the government increasing the taxes on the high-level workers who are already paid a lot, so they could then decrease the lower level workers' taxes and pay them slightly more to ease their struggles. This would provide a better work environment for employees of all levels and a better long-term reputation for the company. According to the AFL-CIO, "a higher pay ratio could be a sign that companies suffer from a winner-take-all philosophy... a lower pay ratio could indicate the companies that are dedicated to creating high-wage jobs and investing in their employees for the company's long-term health" (McCarthy). It is evident when a company is operating in a way that only benefits its more 'important' workers and doesn't focus on the health of those who do the company's dirty work and allow it to run smoothly. Moving forward, larger companies need to take precautions to keep all of their workers healthy, satisfied, and equally compensated to show that they are an innovative and fair company. Currently, "Lower wage workers are more likely to work for small businesses and therefore less likely to have access to health insurance, paid vacations, and sick days" (Work, Stress, and Health & Socioeconomic Status). This only causes more issues for these workers in their daily lives when they already have enough to focus on while earning money at work. While big companies have the means to provide their workers with these benefits, they focus more on spending it on upper-level workers who do not need all the assistance they are getting. Instead, they should work on shifting the pay ratio so lower-level workers can be paid a fair amount to support their living expenses, be taxed slightly less, and still earn the benefits that upper-level workers would get. This shift would not change much regarding the company as a whole, but it would make a significant difference for the workers who could desperately use more money. 

Another issue with the workforce in our country is the people's average work time compared to the amount of paid leave they earn. After the time and effort so many workers put in at their jobs, the amount of time they are given to have a break while still being compensated is far too unfair. According to USA Today, "The average private-sector US worker receives 16 paid vacation days and holidays" (Alexander). Minus the 11 federal US holidays, this permits workers to only five extra paid days off a year. This is not enough time for anyone to healthily balance their schedule between work and leisure, which could be a significant reason why bad mental health develops in the workplace so often. Along with this, even the bare minimum of 5 days off is not guaranteed at every job. As stated by Forbes, "the United States is the only advanced economy that does not require employers to provide paid vacation time. Almost 1-in-4 Americans do not receive any paid vacation or paid holidays" (Mohn). While many other wealthy nations are giving their workers multiple days off, with a minimum amount that even surpasses the United States 16 days, we are stuck working extra long and filling our yearly schedules to the brim with workdays. Plus, most people given this time off are the higher-paid, private workers. So, once again, the lower-level workers at minimum wage jobs trying to earn a living do not get an adequate amount of break time, despite deserving it the most. Constant work and busy schedules are deemed necessary in the American job system because it supposedly equates to success and productivity, while spending time off and relaxing is considered lazy. But, this is not even close to accurate. When workers have more paid days off to relax and focus on their personal health and happiness, they will likely be much more productive when they come back to work. US citizens are constantly working because the government thinks it will bring in more money, but it is counterintuitive because when workers see no end in sight and dread going to work, they are less likely to work hard, making less progress and bringing in a smaller income. This is demonstrated by comparing Americans' and Swedes' earnings and paid time off. In Sweden, they are given 25 required paid days off, and they "require employers to pay vacationing workers extra to help with expenses" (Johnston and Globe Staff). This is much greater and more fair than America's 16 days, none of which are actually required. With this extra time off, the average yearly salary in 2019, according to Erin McDowell from Business Insider, was $55,070 in Sweden and $62,850 in the United States. While this can vary by where you live and what career you have, a difference of less than $8,000 a year, along with a better quality of life, seems to be a fair balance. This proves that it is unnecessary to avoid giving required paid days off and proper treatment of the workers in the country. There is not a substantial difference between the salaries of the US and many wealthy countries, but the way people live differs drastically. If we want our country to thrive financially, socially, and mentally, we need to take steps to create a better balance between work and leisure. The US government needs to construct a way to stop focusing on working as much and as hard as possible, no matter what it takes away from people's lives, and shift to increased productivity, health, time for rest, and fair pay. If changes are not made to provide workers with a better work environment and schedule that reinforces positive mental health, equal pay between upper and lower-level workers, and more paid time off. If this does not happen soon, our country could be burdened with the way of life that Huxley feared in Brave New World, with people relying on drugs to relieve them from their mundane life. After all, you know what The Shining said about 'all work and no play'… and that didn't end well.

Works Cited 

Boyd, Danielle. “42 Worrying Workplace Stress Statistics - the American Institute of Stress.” The American Institute of Stress, 23 Sept. 2019, 

www.stress.org/42-worrying-workplace-stress-statistics. 

Pega, Frank, et al. “Global, Regional, and National Burdens of Ischemic Heart Disease and Stroke Attributable to Exposure to Long Working Hours for 194 Countries, 2000–2016: A Systematic Analysis from the WHO/ILO Joint Estimates of the Work-Related Burden of Disease and Injury.” Environment International, May 2021, p. 106595, 10.1016/j.envint.2021.106595. 

Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World. 2006. New York, Harper & Row, 2006. Mitchell, Sarah, and BongKyoo Choi. “Job Strain, Long Work Hours, and Suicidal Thoughts | | Blogs | CDC.” Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 13 Sept. 2018, https://blogs.cdc.gov/niosh-science-blog/2018/09/13/suicide-prevention/. 

Mishel, Lawrence, and Jori Kandra. “CEO Pay Has Skyrocketed 1,322% since 1978: CEOs Were Paid 351 Times as Much as a Typical Worker in 2020.” Economic Policy Institute, 10 Aug. 2021, www.epi.org/publication/ceo-pay-in-2020/. 

McCarthy, Niall. “America’s Most Staggering CEO-To-Worker Pay Ratios [Infographic].” Forbes, 15 July 2021, 

www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2021/07/15/americas-most-staggering-ceo-to-worke r-pay-ratios-infographic/?sh=50947e182c56.

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“Work, Stress and Health & Socioeconomic Status.” American Psychological Association. Https://Www.apa.org, 2010, 

www.apa.org/pi/ses/resources/publications/work-stress-health. 

Alexander. “On Holiday: Countries with the Most Vacation Days.” USA TODAY, USATODAY, 8 June 2013, 

www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/06/08/countries-most-vacation-days/2400 193/. 

Mohn, Tanya. “U.S. The Only Advanced Economy That Does Not Require Employers to Provide Paid Vacation Time, Report Says.” Forbes, 13 Aug. 2013, 

www.forbes.com/sites/tanyamohn/2013/08/13/paid-time-off-forget-about-it-a-report-look s-at-how-the-u-s-compares-to-other-countries/?sh=91855c16f652. Accessed 23 Dec. 2021. 

Johnston, Katie, and Globe Staff. “Nearly 1 in 4 US Workers Go without Paid Time off - the Boston Globe.” BostonGlobe.com, 14 Aug. 2014, 

www.bostonglobe.com/business/2014/08/13/one-few-countries-that-doesn-mandate-paid vacation-time/eqodEqumohPyca5kt6hrZO/story.html. Accessed 24 Dec. 2021. McDowell, Erin. “Here’s the Average Annual Income in 25 Countries, Ranked from Lowest to Highest.” Business Insider, 7 Aug. 2019, 

www.businessinsider.com/average-annual-income-around-the-world-2019-8. Accessed 24 Dec. 2021.