Firmly Saying "No" to Overtime Requests... US Employees Even Avoiding Their Job Titles

Post-Pandemic Acceleration of Work-Life Balance Changes
WSJ: "Clear Trend Toward Prioritizing Life Balance"
One in Four US Workers Say "Ambition for Success Has Decreased"

Regardless of occupation or generation, a clear trend is emerging worldwide among workers seeking a balance between work and life (work-life balance). The United States, the land of the 'American Dream,' is no exception. Many workers around the world, including in the U.S., have changed their life priorities after three years of the COVID-19 era, and these changes in work attitudes are even transforming corporate practices such as vacations and promotions.

Firmly Saying "NO" to Overtime Requests... Even Avoiding Taking on Positions

According to a Gallup poll in the United States last year, half of the respondents said they were quietly resigning. Image source=Getty Images Bank

The U.S. economic newspaper The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on the 31st of last month (local time) that a strong tendency to prioritize work-life balance has become evident in American workplaces after the COVID-19 pandemic period.

WSJ diagnosed that the number of employees saying "NO" when additional work is required to meet deadlines is increasing, to the point that companies may need to hire extra staff, and that some even avoid taking on positions, requiring companies to seek candidates in advance. The article included brief interviews with CEOs in the U.S.

First, Sumisra Zagaras, president of ZED Digital, a scanner manufacturer, told WSJ, "At least over the past two years, there have been fewer passionate people in the workplace than before," adding, "Because of this, we have moved some jobs, such as engineering, overseas."

A similar trend continues in law firms and financial companies, where high pay has traditionally justified intense workloads. Steven Zubiago, CEO of the law firm Nixon Peabody LLP, said they often struggle to find employees willing to work overtime before deadlines for tasks like case law research.

Marketing and advertising firm Pulp+Wire is considering shutting down its office operations for a week twice a year during summer and winter vacation seasons due to the high number of vacation requests.

"Reduced Ambition for Success as Workers"

Wall Street road sign. Photo by AP·Yonhap News

The changed attitudes of American workers who have come to value work-life balance after COVID-19 are not newly introduced in WSJ's recent report.

Last year in the U.S., the new term "Quiet Quitting," meaning employees only perform the minimum required work, became very popular, with a Gallup poll showing that half of respondents said they were engaging in quiet quitting.

There are also surveys illustrating changes in American workers' attitudes. In a survey conducted by software company Qualtrics in November last year with 3,000 workers, 36% said their ambition for success as workers had "decreased" over the past three years, which was higher than the 22% who said it had "increased."

Nearly 40% responded that "the importance of work in their lives has decreased," which was much higher than the 25% who said the meaning of work had become more important.

WSJ assessed that a factor that could reverse this trend might be, "If a recession causes unemployment to soar, workers may be motivated to work harder to increase their value." However, as of October last year, there were nearly two job openings for every unemployed person in the U.S.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.