Americans Are Suffering From 'Time Poverty'

Newsweek

a day ago

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With labor market uncertainty, jobs rewarding employees for "going the extra mile" and competing responsibilities inside and outside the workplace, a growing number of Americans are suffering from what experts refer to as "time poverty."
The term has been increasingly adopted by psychologists to denote the chronic imbalance between the time a person requires and that which their work life allows them. A new survey by wellness firm Wondr Health revealed the extent of the issue, finding that the majority (62 percent) of U.S. workers do not take their allotted time off because of the internalized pressures of work and let about one-third of their annual vacation days go unspent.
"No one is harder on most of us than ourselves and it leads to time poverty, a condition where we simply do not have enough time for a meaningful work-life balance," said Dr. Tim Church, chief medical officer at Wondr Health. "This is a wakeup call for employees and their employers. It's time to rethink workplace culture."
A growing number of Americans are suffering from what experts refer to as "time poverty."
A growing number of Americans are suffering from what experts refer to as "time poverty."
Annie Ng/AP Illustration
David Ballard, vice president of One Mind at Work, a company focused on mental health solutions for the workplace, said: "Some work cultures actually discourage taking time off, reward overworking, and position stress and being on 24/7 as a badge of honor.
"In this type of environment, employees may avoid taking time off because they would feel guilty or worry they would be seen unfavorably or be penalized if they did."
Ron Goetzel, senior scientist at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and an expert in employee well-being, told Newsweek that the issue of time poverty "takes a toll on individuals, businesses and the larger society."
"Although all of us are given 24 hours in a day, people feel they need to cram in as much activity into that time as possible—without sitting back and asking whether the activity enhances their quality of life, happiness and a sense of accomplishment, or not."
The mental health implications have already become clear. According to a 2020 study, time poverty is linked to lower mental well-being, productivity and even physical health. Researchers also found that "subjective feelings of time poverty had a stronger negative effect on well-being than being unemployed." Despite this, they noted that the issue was one that had long gone underappreciated by either policymakers or employers.
This is in spite of the potential deleterious impacts, not just on individuals, but on the businesses themselves. As workplace wellness experts and psychologists told Newsweek, time poverty among workers can mean lower productivity, higher rates of absenteeism or presenteeism—employees being at work but not fully functional—and increased employee turnover.
"Employees that don't take time off are at risk for burnout, which is detrimental to both the employee and the business," said Dr. Chloe Carmichael, a clinical psychologist known for her work on anxiety and stress management. "The employees can also become resentful of the employer and less productive."
Church added: "It's costly, plain and simple. When employees are burnt out or stressed, productivity and creativity drop. That's lost potential right there."
This is indicative of the wider struggles of stress in the workplace, which several studies have linked to employees looking for opportunities elsewhere.
"Burnout is a complex, multi-factorial problem, but we know for sure that chronic exposure to work-related stress, without the ability to recover, leads inevitably to mental and emotional exhaustion, detachment and decreased productivity and effectiveness," wellness expert Dr. Susan Biali Haas told Newsweek.
Yasemin Besen-Cassino, a sociologist at Montclair State University, said the current climate in the U.S. labor had added to this troubling status quo, which she described as "overwork culture," with mass layoffs and broader economic uncertainty weighing on employees' minds. In addition, she told Newsweek that new technologies permitting workers to be ever-present made many feel they must contribute to work via emails or zoom calls even during off days.
She added that many workers choose to use their paid time off to provide child care because of lack of affordable alternatives. "Therefore many workers are not recharging on these days, but rather performing caregiving," she told Newsweek.
However, experts pointed to potential remedies—some easy, others not—that could limit the exposure to workplace stress to the benefit of employees and employers.
Carmichael suggested that businesses consider mandatory time off, which would "remove the potential for internalized pressure." Author and stress researcher Rebecca Heiss said that taking vacations was far from a panacea for workplace-related stress, as despite a yoga retreat or week away employees will "ultimately will have to return to work and when we do all of those emails and projects are waiting for us and have compounded."
Some pointed to the need for allotted "mental health days," as well as the willingness of businesses to invest in employee wellness programs and foster open communication with their workforces. Others advocated a wider cultural shift that would need to take place.
"It's important to create a culture where taking a vacation is normalized and encouraged so that workers can fully recharge," Besen-Cassino said. "Shifting workplace culture can ensure workers can take vacations and are healthier and more productive in the long run."
While employers might be reticent, Church said it is in their interest to consider the stress on their workers.
"Maybe most importantly, businesses risk losing their best people," he said. "If the culture doesn't support rest and wellness, employees look for other places where their well-being is valued.
"Addressing burnout and time poverty isn't just about being better employers, it's smart business."