Can't Even: How Millennials Became the Burnout Generation

Can't Even: How Millennials Became the Burnout Generation by Anne Helen Petersen  276 pages

"While burnout may seem like the default setting for the modern era, in Can’t Even, BuzzFeed culture writer and former academic Anne Helen Petersen argues that burnout is a definitional condition for the millennial generation, born out of distrust in the institutions that have failed us, the unrealistic expectations of the modern workplace, and a sharp uptick in anxiety and hopelessness exacerbated by the constant pressure to “perform” our lives online. The genesis for the book is Petersen’s viral BuzzFeed article on the topic, which has amassed over eight million reads since its publication in January 2019." (courtesy of Goodreads)

I thought this was an interesting read, but I sometimes found it frustrating --- lots of pointing out that there are problems, but no proposed solutions. I also felt like there was a lot of generalizing, which was sometimes irritating. As someone who is Generation X, I'm not immune from the pressures the author notes in this book due to how I was raised to think about work. And the way the book comes off, it's as if the author only thinks it's Millennials who get burned out . . . which isn't true at all.

It's an interesting overview of work, workplaces and other things. However, definitely a read that made me alternate between finding it interesting and finding it really annoying.

On the Clock: What Low-wage Work Did to Me and How It Drives America Insane

On the Clock: What Low-wage Work Did to Me and How It Drives America Insane by Emily Guendelsberger  352 pages

When Emily Guendelsberger lost her job at a local newspaper when it shuttered, she took a pre-Christmas job at an Amazon fulfillment center outside of Louisville, Kentucky. And thus begins her exploration of how working there, as well as subsequent jobs at a call center in North Carolina and a McDonald's in San Francisco, shows how many Americans are exposed to work conditions that put the emphasis on efficiency, at the expense of humanity.  For example, at the Amazon fulfillment center, the staff vending machines are stocked with painkillers (because you can't ever stop --- you're on the clock, even if your feet and back are killing you).  At the call center, she was trained to assist customers, but endured abuse from people screaming at her on the phone. At McDonald's, even though the pace was relentless, it wasn't quite as bad -- until customers started throwing food at her.

This is definitely an eye-opening and interesting book, especially when read in tandem with Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich.  The fastest-growing segment of the American workforce is working jobs like the author took on, and I think it's important to understand what the real human cost is of the conveniences most of us have gotten used to.

Ask a Manager

Ask a Manager: How to Navigate Clueless Colleagues, Lunch-Stealing Bosses, and the Rest of Your Life at Work by Alison Green, 287 pages

Green is a workplace advice columnist. She has been answering questions for more than ten years through her blog. Her intent is to give the perspective of a manager. I didn't have a specific question I wanted answered. I like to see what perspectives advice columnists have and was curious about hers.

There are four chapters and they address conversations with different people. They are with your boss, your coworkers, when you're the boss and with your job interviewer. The questions range from the ordinary to the strange. A strange one that stood out to me was a situation where an employee was threatening to curse (as in magic) a coworker. A lot of them address issues that a lot of people feel awkward about bringing up. I am not sure that her advice will always work but almost all of it seems like a good way to approach the conversation. A lot of it is geared towards collaboration and finding solutions. Or tactfully addressing the situation without making assumptions.

I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking for advice on work related issues. If you can't find a relevant question her approach may inspire a good way to address the issue or you can ask her through her blog. It can also serve as a primer for ways to approach any issues that come up in the future.        

Rosie's Mom: Forgotten Women Workers of the First World War

Rosie's Mom: Forgotten Women Workers of the First World War by Carrie Brown 254 pages 

I really enjoyed this book! It starts with pointing out how many of us know "Rosie the Riveter," but all of the women who preceded her, who worked in industry during World War I, remained unknown. For example, who made the gas masks for American soldiers facing chemical warfare for the first time? Who filled and shaped millions of cartridges?  Who assembled planes, sewed uniforms and worked in meatpacking factories to keep soldiers fed? More than a million women!!

The author goes back to pre-World War I to explore women working in all kinds of industries and how these women left those jobs to work in munition plants and other jobs to help the war effort. She also is quite clear that the jobs they left (working in garment factories, etc.) were just as dangerous as their new jobs where they were exposed to explosives, toxic chemicals and hostile male co-workers. I appreciated that the author wrote about women who helped the labor movement and how their work continued on, even as World War I came to an end. The author also spends time documenting how Black women faced even more challenges, taking jobs that were too dirty and dangerous for White women (and even White men).  The author's discussion of how the Chicago Defender newspaper drove people from the South to go North to find work is unsparing in describing the hardships that people faced. She points out that except in the peanut and tobacco industries, most factories were closed to Black women and men alike and that when Blacks did get into factories, they inevitably earned less than their White counterparts.

While there were a lot of obstacles in the way, women kept at it, determined to continue working and also continue working towards a living wage. The author does discuss unions and how women entering the job force in the war actually led to improved working conditions for many workers (men included).  Brown includes quotes from people who advocated on behalf of working women, including this one which struck me as something which could come from someone in today's society (but was from 1919):

Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, one of the most respected leaders of the woman suffrage movement, addressed the National War Labor Board and said, "Is it  not astonishing, gentlemen, that women are not quite as interested in their own moral conditions as men can be for them, and is it not quite remarkable that women may not know what kind of employments they are adapted to as well as men can tell them? . . . Let me say that the time has come when it is neither the right of men nor the duty of men not justice for men to decide these problems for women . . . "

Utopia for Realists

Utopia for Realists: How We Can Build the Ideal World by Rutger Bregman, 319 pages

Bregman starts by describing what Miedieval Europeans considered a Utopia. In most of the world, humanity has achieved that Utopia. By multiple metrics, most people in the world have good living conditions. So, how can we make things even better (especially when people may not have to work as much because of robots and AI)? Bregman's answer is a Universal Basic Income(UBI).

UBI is self-descriptive. Everyone would be guaranteed a basic income so they wouldn't have to work but if they wanted to.

To make his argument, Bregman cites several experiments with UBI. A compelling argument in favor of UBI is that it could save governments money by eliminating bureaucracy and the need for some social services. He makes some arguments that could appeal to liberals and conservatives.

Underlying Bregman's arguments is the idea that economies will continue to prosper. He isn't alone in this assumption but since populations continue to increase and the Earth has limited resources it may a bad assumption to make.

I had heard of UBI along with some of arguments in favor of it and found this in-depth analysis of the idea to be engaging. Bregman's writing style and the translation made for an easy read.

The Schmuck in My Office

The Schmuck in my Office: How to deal effectively with difficult people at work by Jody J. Foster, MD, MBA   288 pages.

"Everyone has a “schmuck” in their office---a difficult, disruptive person who upsets the workplace, confuses coworkers, and causes concern. It’s hard to understand why schmucks act the way they do, but one thing is certain---they seem to come in all shapes and sizes. . . ."

I had seen a reference to this book in a recent article and was happy to find that it had some pretty insightful information.  While I wasn't familiar with all of the major work personalities covered in this book, I am familiar with some.  Dr. Jody Foster explains the spectrum of people that many find difficult to work with and looks at how dysfunctional interactions among coworkers can lead to workplace stress.  By helping people understand the people they feel are schmucks, Foster shows how to work with them and ultimately solve workplace problems.

While this book isn't for everyone, it did have some insightful information. It's helpful to understand why some people act as they do, because if you can understand them (or at least try to), you can figure out a better way to work with them.  And this can benefit everyone in an organization.