The Anti-Work Movement – and 4 ways it will impact you this year

This is an odd subject for a business writer to cover and HR professionals to read, considering it’s the antithesis of what we care about most. But the Anti-Work Movement will impact the workplace.

So here we are – getting to know the Anti-Work Movement and what we can do to manage, avoid – and possibly accept – it.

What is the Anti-Work Movement?

Fortunately, the Anti-Work Movement isn’t exactly a strike against work. But the ideals behind it gained steam throughout the pandemic and the ensuing rally for a return to work. In fact, an anti-work Subreddit group has grown from 100,000 members before the pandemic to 2.4 million today. 

Generally, the Anti-Work Movement advocates for a work structure that shifts away from paid labor and toward voluntary, fulfilling work choices. Advocates – the majority of whom are actually employed, according to one of the movement’s demographic survey – say that many jobs these days are unnecessary and cause social issues such as inequality and poor work-life balance.

The movement isn’t about being lazy, it’s about a different ideal: Everyone is their own boss, choosing their work environment, hours, tasks and goals.

Seeing similarities?

You might be thinking this sounds similar to other idealogies that have grown in recent years.

The Anti-Work Movement, in some ways, is a magnified version of flexible work arrangements, sprinkled with an emphasis on employee engagement and autonomy.

So, anti-work isn’t exactly unimaginable for any HR pro these days.

“Organizations at the highest level need first to understand what is fueling the Anti-Work Movement before they can begin to consider how to prevent it,” says Andrew Shatte’, PhD, Chief Knowledge Officer and co-founder at meQuilibrium. “Many employees felt unsupported by their employers during the pandemic. In addition, stress and burnout rates skyrocketed which in turn led to disengagement, Quiet Quitting, and the Great Resignation as people could no longer hang on by their fingernails. When people get burned out they get angry and anxious, and these feelings are funneled into anti-work sentiment.”

So to stay ahead of the anti-work sentiment, HR pros will want to get behind the issues causing it.

Here the most common workplace issues that make employees want to stop working – and tips to address each.

Hold the line on engagement

Consider the Anti-Work Movement the ugly second cousin of disengagement. You have disengaged employees – who just don’t care about their work, colleagues or the company – and they could be just steps away of anti-work (aka, turnover).

You can’t address disengagement if you don’t recognize it. The first critical step is to look for disengagement because it isn’t always as obvious as calling out unhappy employees.

Eight signs employees are becoming disengaged:

• Silence. They stop sharing ideas with colleagues.
• Mistakes. Their attention to detail slides.
• Absence. They don’t attend or cancel meetings.
• Absentmindedness. They don’t have answers to questions they normally should.
• Resistance. They openly resist changes.
• Defiance. They stop following protocol.
• Disrespect. They stop going the extra mile or helping others.
• Isolation. They avoid colleagues, conversations and connections.

Make sure front-line manangers know to look for these clues, too.

Watch for overload

To that, it’s critical for top-line leaders to reduce pressure on front-line managers to make everything right with employees. Their well-being impacts employees’ desire to work.

“Our research at meQuilibrium shows {front-line managers} are showing higher levels of stress and burnout than the people who report to them,” says Shatte’.

What helps is meaning – proving to all employees that the mission behind their work is important. Meaning builds sentiment toward – not against – work.

“People who are anti-work often become so because they perceive their jobs as unnecessary and meaningless” says Shatte’. “Front-line managers need to ensure that their people see the big picture and understand how their efforts contribute to the mission of the organization.”

But remember: Senior leaders want to help front-line managers see the same in their roles.

Align expectations

If you polled your employees, most would likely agree that they’d been told at some point in life, “If you work hard, you’ll get ahead.”

Unfotunately, in their working lives, that hasn’t always been the case – and disappointments from a belief like that can lead to bad relationships with work.

The failed work-hard-get-ahead experiences usually come from misaligned expectations. Employees thought they were working hard toward the goal. But they didn’t have the same goal or approach to reaching it as the boss or organization had in mind. Then they think, “Why should I work so hard to stay stuck?”

That’s the cue for employers, leaders and bosses to align expectations. It’ll take more clear communication, tangible actions and measurable results.

Meet the desire to change

Perhaps the Anti-Work Movement could or should change its moniker: The Change-Work Movement. At the heart of what advocates and those who are just interested in it want is change. And they want the opportunity to discuss and try some change.

The Reddit group’s FAQs makes a specific call: “to start a conversation, to problematize work as we know it today.”

While you probably don’t have a group of professed “anti-workers” calling for anarchy, you likely have employees who feel their concerns and ideas aren’t always welcome.

How can you change that?

“Work on ensuring that all of their people have a seat at the table and that their voices are heard, since much of the anti-work philosophy stems from the sense that the organization sees their employees as faceless producers,” says Shatte’.