Follow your passion. This is probably the most common advice given to job seekers. The implication: You can only be your best at work when you’re doing something you really love.
However according to the growing body of researchtoo much emphasis on one’s work passion can be harmful in many ways.
“It doesn’t provide 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 give more time and energy without being paid more.”
While the idea that a job doesn’t have to be called is not new, experts say the pandemic and the changes it is promoting in the world of work may be prompting people to rethink what that really means. of passion for work.
“We were told that you can only fulfill yourself through work, but people are starting to see that there are other aspects of life that are as important or more important than work,” said Jae Yun Kim, an assistant professor of business ethics at the Asper School of Business at the University of Manitoba. “People are starting to treat work as work, and that’s a good sign.”
Before the 1970s, passion was not a priority for job seekers, says Professor Cech, who is the author of “The Trouble With Passion: How Finding Fulfillment at Work Causes Inequality.” Instead, the focus is on decent pay, hours and security, and if there is fulfillment, it will come later as you become more skilled at the job.
But this began to change in the ’70s, with increasing professional job instability and a growing cultural emphasis on self-expression and self-gratification, a shift captured in the wildly popular 1970 book “What Color Is Your Parachute?”
Interestingly, worrying about whether your job will fulfill you often applies to the privileged white-collar world. “Most people don’t work to be self-actualized,” says Simone Stolzoff, who wrote the book “The Good Enough Job: Reclaiming Life From Work.” “They work for a living.”
It’s also important to consider the price you may pay for loving your job. An article in The Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, contributed by Professor Kim, looked at seven studies and a meta-analysis and found that passion can be used to legitimize “unfair and abusive management practices, ” including asking employees to work extra hours without pay. , work on weekends and handle unrelated tasks that are not part of the job.
One study found that managers from a variety of industries noticed that subordinates who seemed more passionate about their jobs than their peers “were more likely to volunteer for extra work.” (for no additional compensation) and rewarding work, and this in turn predicted increased legitimacy of exploitation” to that worker.
This does not only apply to individuals, but to entire professions, such as creative or caring fields, where people are assumed to have “a role” that can pay for a lower salary: nursing or teaching, for example .
Maggie Perkins didn’t need academic research to understand the connection between passion for work and exploitation. Ms. Perkins, 31, was a middle school and high school teacher for eight years in Florida and Georgia. His public announcement on TikTok that he quit his job and was happier working as an entry-level employee at Costco got media attention and millions of views.
Six months later, that feeling remains. “I strongly believe that the education system depends on exploiting the labor of teachers, even in places with strong unions,” said Ms. Perkins, adding that low pay, as well as reduced autonomy in his teaching, pushed him out of the profession.
“I was really cut out for teaching,” he said. “But I have to choose between myself and losing myself.” (He was recently promoted at Costco to corporate trainer.)
Choosing a major or a career based on passion can also reinforce gender stereotypes, says Sapna Cheryan, a professor of psychology at the University of Washington in Seattle. Some studies he and his colleagues conducted found that when undergraduates were asked to choose majors or jobs based on the advice to “follow your passion” the answers fell into traditional roles: Men were more computer and engineering fields are usually chosen and women are more often chosen for the arts or helping people, for example.
If they were instead asked to choose a career based on job security and pay or to choose one focused on nurturing or caring for others, this gender gap narrows significantly, he said. The findings did not differ by race or income, Professor Cheryan added.
While the intertwining of passion and career exists in other countries, it is particularly strong in the United States, experts say, with its emphasis on individualism, the importance of work and a relative lack of strong labor movements. making.
One way to determine if you’ve developed what Taha Yasseri, an associate professor of sociology at University College Dublin, calls “obsessive passion” — when your career overshadows all other areas of your life — is to ask yourself if you can to turn off your work and focus on family, hobbies or other areas of your life. If the answer is no, you may want to rethink your priorities.
That’s what Alex, 27, did. (He asked that his last name not be published for fear of disparaging his work.) For nearly three years, Alex worked at least 60-hour weeks in his job as a supply chain manager for a Fortune 500 company. He is always driven and “I found myself addicted to the workplace, addicted to my work and, looking back, it was very un healthy,” he said, adding that his relationship with his girlfriend also suffered.
When he was promoted and transferred to a new state, he decided to dial back to a more manageable 40 hours a week. He noted that he still got the same positive performance reviews without the intense work hours or constant worry.
“My work is fine. I don’t sleep dreaming about it,” said Alex. “And I’m fine with that.”
