In today’s fast-paced, competitive corporate landscape, the concept of hustle culture, or grind culture, has taken a firm hold within our work environments. This mindset is often rooted in the belief that success is directly proportional to the amount of hard work one puts in. On top of encouraging long hours over self-care, hustle culture can lead to a cycle of relentlessly pursuing professional achievements at the cost of personal wellbeing.
Social media platforms are awash with content encouraging constant productivity and glorifying the non-stop work mentality. At the same time, as much as 60% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck, causing increasing financial stress. The result is easily predictable: people are quickly turning to the hustle culture mindset, with 44% of Americans viewing their side hustle as necessary for providing essential income.
In this blog, we dissect this “grindset,” to see when hard work becomes toxic productivity and to understand the downsides of a constant hustle.
Some might argue that a workplace culture built on hustling leads to increased productivity and professional development, but study results tend to show otherwise. Research from the Journal of Occupational Health found that the risk of work-related burnout doubles when employees move from a 40-hour to a 60-hour work week. Meanwhile, over 80% of employees are already at risk of burnout, with Gen Z employees feeling the most stress.