Crazy Lean Belly: What's fueling a mental health crisis at work

Tuesday, 24 January 2023

What's fueling a mental health crisis at work

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Life's uncertainty has led to a mental health crisis at work

By Rachel Sonis

Associate Editor, Ideas

I'll be the first to admit that I'm not the best when it comes to change. Actually, I despise it, and often yearn for simpler moments knowing exactly what's coming next—particularly when it comes to my work life. While change is a natural part of the work-life cycle, the rapid shift in work conditions, volatility of the economy, and rise of automation can feel more daunting and anxiety-inducing than ever before.

In a new essay for TIME, workplace mental-health experts Gabriella Rosen Kellerman and Martin E.P. Seligman, who are the authors of the new book Tomorrowmind, unpack how "the twin trials"—the pace and type of today's rapid change—are causing a mental health crisis at work. Among their most intriguing points:

We are currently in the "whitewater" world of work, in which constant uncertainty and instability threaten workplace mental health and productivity.
According to the the World Economic Forum, humans will have to wholly reinvent themselves every 10 years, learning new job skills that will eventually become antiquated or transferred to machines. Our children, and their children, will likely have to do the same.
Understanding exactly how this uncertainty is affecting the workplace can prepare us not only to survive, but to develop a unique set of emotional, social, and cognitive skills that can help us thrive.

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ONE LAST READ

Good news for redheads

As a natural redhead, I’m a proud member of a small and exclusive club: redheads make up only about 2% of the world’s population. For years, I’ve heard rumors that our club is getting even smaller and more exclusive as the recessive red-hair gene slowly gets pushed out of the world’s gene pool. So I was relieved to read in National Geographic that redheads aren’t going extinct, after all—and that there are actually multiple genes that lead to this unique color.—Jamie Ducharme