Working full-time doesn’t just take the 9 hours of your day. Mostly, people don’t factor in the time it takes to get ready and get to work. There are many consequences for the type of work-life we adopt. For example, chronic back pain from working too long at a desk, anxiety, and mental stress are undeniable consequences too. It’s impossible to look at our work-life and all that we’re accumulating. Especially when it comes to how much we’re compromising on our health and life, in general.
Productivity Issues:
We all want to work. We want to give back to the community and sing for our supper. However, working full-time under a strict boss with no proper motivation hinders our personal growth. Not only does it make an employee feel bad about the company, but it also makes them hate themselves. Since we are not the productive members of the society that we want to be, we dwell in self-loathing. This causes a number of psychological problems that ruin things for us in the long run.
An example can be of working manual labor and having your boss constantly scream at you. In this case, you’ll not only be inefficient and unproductive, but you’ll also have low motivation to do anything else. This becomes a serious problem for people who eventually abandon their careers. It’s true that sometimes, all it takes is just one bad experience to get you down. Although the best thing to do is get back up, but not all of us can take that road. People lose their sense of creativity and face problems in mustering up that courage and confidence again.
Low Esteem and Motivation:
Studies show that employees that don’t have a good working environment lose their motivation for other things as well. Similarly, long-term working in a bad social atmosphere will result in low self-esteem. Some companies have the policy of conducting medical tests every now and then. This makes it extremely difficult for people already coping with mental stress and anxiety to pass those exams. Even though they’re not affecting the state of affairs in the workplace, the company still wants people on medication and drugs gone.
This is one of those situations in which workers who don’t carry products like synthetic urine face dire consequences. So, the depression and the hopeless situation they got from their job got them fired from their job. This becomes a stigmatizing image for any person who then tries to apply anywhere else to work.
Time Management:
The time it takes to get home and fully recover from the whole day is more than 12 hours. You’ll need 8 hours of sleep, and that just leaves you with 4 hours to yourself. However, even this is not the complete picture, is it? Employees that work overtime can agree that they don’t have the choice to say no. In addition to this, giving away all of their time to the company means they get nothing to themselves. Employees don’t get the time to take care of themselves, work on their passions, hobbies, etc.
This also leads us to another serious concern that is the alienation of the person from the social world. People who work more and have less time to themselves often feel alone. Their personal life is almost gone since they hardly ever get the time to meet someone. This isolation becomes more dangerous than any other disease as it gives way to vulnerability and grief. There’s no denying the importance of socialization in a human being’s life. Even the prominent saying, “All work, no play, makes Jack a dull boy”, tells us something. Therefore, it’s important to understand that at one point, you have to stop to consider what you’re doing.
Health Problems:
Studies by Harvard and Stanford conducted to find out how work-stressors are related to mortality. Apparently, there are a lot of serious health diseases that you can get from work-stress. Not only are these diseases seriously dangerous, but they’re also difficult to treat and avoid the same lifestyle. Let’s take a look at some of the health problems you can get from work-related stress:
Hypertension:
One of the most common health problems you are likely to get from constant stress at work is hypertension. This is a condition in which you persistently have high blood pressure. Although it might not seem like that big of a deal in its initial stages, it does have fatal consequences. The important thing to know is that hypertension doesn’t have any symptoms you can look out for. People who get habitual of working with high blood pressure eventually become victims and suffer terrible consequences.
Cardiovascular Disease:
This term refers to the various conditions that end up affecting the heart. In most cases of cardiovascular diseases, fat deposits build up in the arteries. Moreover, this ends up increasing the risk of blood clots forming inside as well.
Some of the common types of cardiovascular disease include coronary heart disease, strokes, transient ischemic attack, peripheral arterial disease, and aortic disease. You might have some information regarding some of these problems. Little to no research is necessary to understand that all of these are fatally dangerous.
Anxiety and Depression:
Unhealthy working environments directly cause anxiety and depression. Although many people are aware of the common effects of these two conditions, one of the worst ones is a loss of appetite. People suffering from depression don’t feel like eating at all. This is worse for their situation as they’re already not doing well. Another major problem to consider is that these people probably don’t know the types of food that they need to eat.
This can end up having long-term effects on not just your physical but your social health as well. People with depression close themselves off whenever they get time off of work. This alienates them socially, and further isolation results in permanent attitude and mood changes. People who try to keep up with the same lifestyle and working space end up changing their overall personalities.
It’s common for people to confuse anxiety with stress. Although stress is what you feel in the situation, anxiety is the feeling of dread and fear you feel when you’re not in the situation. However, in a continuous cycle, it isn’t easy to differentiate between the two. Therefore, it’s okay to consider both of them as related because the adverse effects they have are similar. Suffice it to say, you should consider getting help whenever you feel anything of the kind.
Conclusion:
It’s imperative that everyone understands the importance of individual needs and how even at work, we’re not devoid of them. Giving someone some space to deal with all the matters of their life can sometimes be all they need. We all go through tough times in our lives, and if we don’t get even the tiniest bit of help, it’s difficult to make it. Therefore, it’s up to each and every one of us that we take the initiative to be considerate and compassionate towards everyone around us.