For thirty years Leoni Kajim (47) worked for an employer, for thirty years she did not enjoy it and for thirty years she was on her gums. Now she is „completely fucking ready,” she says. “Every day I would run to work, after work I would run home to prepare dinner and go to bed on time, just so I could run back to work the next day. Life must have more to offer than that, right?”
So she resigned early last year as a manager at an installation technology company. Without having a clue what to do. “All I knew was that I never wanted to work for a boss again. Go to your manager with a note asking if you could please have a day off; I just couldn’t take it anymore. It literally made me sick.”
Working forty hours a week for a boss, not everyone can keep up with that. 1.3 million workers suffer from burnout complaints. And the work stress starts early. Of all young people between the ages of 15 and 25 with a job, 21 percent regularly suffer from this, according to the CBS statistics agency† People therefore look for other options to fill in their (working) lives. Such as the FIRE supporters, for example. FIRE stands for financial independence and retirewhich means earning, investing and cutting back as quickly as possible so that you can retire as early as possible.
But living according to the FIRE method is not realistic for everyone. In the first place, you need a well-paid job to be able to save enough money at all. And for those who already have to make ends meet to be able to pay the rent and put a meal on the table every evening, ‘consuming less’ is just a luxury.
Quitting work is therefore not within everyone’s reach. But do you have any other choice if you feel like it’s going down?
Dismissal by app
Leoni Kajim didn’t think so, as did many members of the anti work movement, an American movement that has grown on the online forum Reddit. They don’t want to stop working because they want to enjoy their freedom as soon as possible on a white beach (like some FIRE supporters), but because their work makes them deeply unhappy. Because they never get a raise, their boss calls the dentist to check if they really had an appointment, they don’t come home until eight in the evening and – despite the long work week – still struggle to make ends meet.
Since the corona crisis, the popularity of the anti-work movement has increased significantly. When the page r/antiwork was founded on Reddit in 2013, the group consisted of a modest number of left-wing anarchists who never wanted to set foot in the job market again; the original slogan of the forum is Unemployment for all, not just the rich!† But now the group has grown significantly. Last year, the group gained 900,000 members. The counter is now at 1.8 million. 1,500 posts and 30,000 comments are placed on the page daily.
Also read this piece about the ‘FIRE movement’: This is how you retire before your thirtieth birthday
With the growing number of members, the target audience has also changed. Even if you just want to vent about your shitty job, you can go to the forum. The posts therefore range from people talking about their impossible working hours or slave-driving managers to ironic ones memes about the labor market. Members are also happy to share how they submitted their resignations. Mainly quitting texts are popular: a manager sends an angry and insulting app, after which the employee immediately quits his job, also via app. Such a quitting text can count on thousands of statements of support and acclaim on the forum.
It is no coincidence that the anti-work movement has grown since the corona crisis, says labor market professor Ton Wilthagen. Not only does social dissatisfaction grow in every crisis period, many people also ended up at home because of corona. Many Americans who lost their jobs in the corona crisis received a higher benefit than they would have earned by working. “That makes you think,” says Wilthagen.
Happier without work
At first glance, the American labor market cannot be compared with the Dutch one, says Wilthagen. In the United States, the working conditions are many times worse than in the Netherlands – longer working days, fewer holidays, the possibility of being fired. In addition, there are many more low-skilled people in the US.
Nevertheless, Wilthagen also sees signs in the Netherlands that people are less eager to work. For example, the number of part-timers among 25 to 35-year-olds is increasing, the CBS discovered. “The Dutch have always cherished their private time, in which they can carry out hobbies and own projects. This only seems to be getting stronger.” It is not surprising that dissatisfaction with work is also increasing in the Netherlands, says Wilthagen. “The autonomy in work is diminishing. People are done with the management culture, their schedule that they have nothing to say themselves and the boss who is constantly watching them.” In addition, employers are now piling flex contract on flex contract and wage increases are lagging behind, despite high inflation and a tight labor market.
Yorien Stroosnijder (29) was also completely done with working life: the long days at the office, working together with colleagues and being dependent on a boss. She tried one job after another. From marketing functions to event management and catering. But she clicked with almost no boss and no job made her happy. “No matter what I tried, at some point I had had enough and resigned.”
After years of searching in vain for the right match, she gave up and started her own blog, called ‘Girl without work’. “I noticed that I didn’t necessarily feel better when I had a job and earned a lot of money,” says Stroosnijder. “In fact, most of the time I actually felt worse.”
Work therefore demands more and more from us, says Marguerite van den Berg, director of the master’s degree in sociology at the University of Amsterdam and author of the book Work is not a solution† “Since the eighties we have only started working more, in paid and unpaid hours. We still expect work to give us security, but that promise is being fulfilled less and less often,” she said in an earlier interview in this newspaper.
refusing work
But what is the solution? Quit your job and never do anything again? Most people cannot afford that. That is why Van den Berg proposes to refuse work at least more often. “Your boss or client is constantly stealing energy and time from you, so it is important to see how you can steal this back,” she said in the same interview. Take breaks more often and say no more often. She also puts this into practice herself. This time she said no to an interview.
No work may not be the answer. Working less, or more meaningful work, says Bart Flos, ‘change coach’ and author of management books such as The Anti-complaint book and The Anti-drag book† “Because just provoking (or complaining) won’t get you there.” The anti-work movement could therefore die out like a candle, Flos fears. A pity, because this movement does raise an important and current problem, which the Netherlands should also listen to. “Work is only meaningful if it contributes to the well-being and well-being of the working person. We should try that more often.” For example, even in Dutch companies there is still chronic overtime. “The average employee misses thousands of euros annually in overtime premiums. That is completely idiotic,” says Flos.
Also read: A full working week? It is not necessary for young people. ‘A 40-hour work week is super old-fashioned’
Stroosnijder also discovered that work can be satisfying, as long as she does it in her own way. Work less, spend less and stress less. Now she is a freelancer and she enjoys writing job descriptions. “A vacancy should be honest and positive, just like work should be.”
Leoni Kajim is also back at work; she provides alternative therapy as a ‘bodyworker’ and breathing coach. She never wants to work herself to the bone again, and certainly not for a boss. And even though she still doesn’t have enough customers to live on, she refuses customers who don’t make her feel positive. “I only work for myself, not for others,” says Kajim. “It was really scary to just quit my job and use up my savings. It wakes me up. Yet it is nothing compared to the work stress I had.”
A version of this article also appeared in the newspaper of May 10, 2022