Perhaps the most common piece of advice given to job seekers is: follow your passion. Which means you can only do your best at work when you’re doing something you really love.
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However, more and more studies show that placing too much emphasis on passion for work can be detrimental in several ways.
“Doing that doesn’t offer an opportunity to develop an identity outside of work,” said Erin Cech, an associate professor of sociology at the University of Michigan. “In addition, employers who prioritize passion expect people to put in more time and energy without getting paid more.”
While the idea that a job doesn’t have to be a vocation isn’t new, experts say the pandemic and the changes it has wrought in the world of work could be prompting people to rethink what passion really means. for a job.
“We’ve been told that you can only be fulfilled through work, but people are starting to see that there are other aspects of life that are just as important or more,” said Jae Yun Kim, an associate professor of business ethics at the School of Business. Asper from the University of Manitoba. “People are starting to see work as just a job, and that’s a good sign.”
Before the 1970s, passion was not a priority for job seekers, said Cech, author of The Trouble With Passion: How Searching for Fulfillment at Work Fosters Inequality. The important thing was decent pay, hours, and job security, and if there was satisfaction, it came later as you became more skilled on the job.
That began to change in the 1970s, with increasing job instability for professionals and an increasing cultural emphasis on self-expression and self-satisfaction, a shift captured in the wildly popular 1970 book What color is your parachute?
In particular, worrying about whether the job will satisfy you applies above all to the privileged world of office workers. “Most people don’t work to feel fulfilled,” explained Simone Stolzoff, author of the book The Good Enough Job: Reclaiming Life From Work. “They work to survive.”
It’s also important to consider the price you might be paying for loving your job. An article published in The Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, in which Kim contributed, analyzed seven studies and a meta-analysis and found that passion can be used to legitimize “unfair and demeaning management practices,” such as asking staff to work unpaid overtime, work weekends, and take care of unrelated tasks that are not part of the job.
One of the studies revealed that managers in various industries perceived that subordinates who seemed more passionate about their work than their peers “would be more likely to volunteer to do extra work (without additional pay) and to feel rewarded for the work, which in turn predicted a greater legitimization of the exploitation” of that worker.
This refers not only to individuals, but to entire professions, such as creative or caring fields, where it is assumed that people have “a calling” that can compensate for lower wages: for example, nursing or teaching.
Maggie Perkins doesn’t need academic research to understand the connection between passion for work and exploitation. Perkins, 31, taught middle and high school for eight years in Florida and Georgia. When she publicly announced on TikTok that she had quit her job and that she was happier as a worker at Costco, she drew media attention and millions of views.
Six months later, that sentiment remains. “I firmly believe that the education system is based on the exploitation of teachers’ work, even in places with strong unions,” Perkins said, adding that low salaries, as well as diminishing academic freedom, led her to drop out. the profession.
“I was made for teaching,” she said, “but I had to choose between my well-being and losing my identity.” (She was recently promoted to corporate trainer at Costco.)
According to Sapna Cheryan, a professor of psychology at the University of Washington in Seattle, choosing a major or career based on passion can also reinforce gender stereotypes. Several studies conducted by her, and her colleagues, revealed that when college students were asked to choose careers or occupations based on the advice “follow your passion”, the answers conformed to traditional roles: for example, men they were more inclined towards computer science and engineering, and women towards art or activities that assist people.
In contrast, if they were asked to choose a career based on job security and salary, or one focused on caring or caring for others, this gender gap narrowed significantly, Cheryan said, adding that the results did not change. based on race or income.
While the mix between passion and career exists in other countries, experts say it is particularly strong in the United States, with an emphasis on individuality, the importance of work and the relative lack of strong labor movements.
One way to determine if you’ve had what Taha Yasseri, associate professor of sociology at University College Dublin, calls “obsessive passion” (when your career occupies all other aspects of your life) is to ask yourself if you can change your job and Focus on family, hobbies, or other aspects of your life. If the answer is no, you may want to reconsider your priorities.
That’s what Alex, 27, did (he requested that his last name not be published for fear of appearing less passionate about his work). For about three years, Alex worked at least 60-hour weeks as a supply chain manager for a Fortune 500 company, an annual ranking of America’s most profitable companies. He has always been highly motivated and “I became addicted to the workplace, addicted to my job, and in retrospect, that was very unhealthy,” he said. And he added that his relationship with his girlfriend was also affected.
When he got promoted and moved to a new state, he decided to go back to working just 40 hours a week, a more manageable schedule. He observed that he still got the same positive performance reviews without the intense work hours or constant worry.
“My work is going well. I don’t go to bed thinking about it,” Alex said. “And I’m glad it is.”
Source: NYT Espanol
