Soon after Elon Musk took over Twitter last October, he made a comment that signalled a pivotal moment for the company and wider work practice. He warned that employees must commit to an “extremely hardcore” working culture or quit. Musk’s approach to work could be seen as an almost platonic ideal of “hustle culture” taken to its extreme — a vision in which self-worth is defined by relentless work and striving. But workaholism can have bad consequences. A belief that taking breaks is a sign of weakness can even prove lethal: in 2017, for example, a Japanese journalist died from heart failure, after 159 hours of overtime in a month.
For business school students, the backlash to Musk’s edict should be instructive. Influencers and chief executives peddling autobiographies and attempting to impress investors tend to value workaholism. But researchers are increasingly questioning whether it makes any sense when running a good or ethical business.
Silvia Bellezza, associate professor of business in marketing at Columbia Business School in New York, says resistance to the pressure to overwork reflects a broader shift among young professionals. This follows a previous movement towards glorification of hustle culture — sometimes also described as “burnout culture”.