Sergey Brin, Google’s CEO, has reportedly encouraged his employees to commit to 60-hour work weeks, expecting them to be in the office every weekday—heavily implying that weekends might no longer be sacred. Similarly, James Watt, founder of the craft beer giant BrewDog, has called for the abandonment of the traditional idea of work-life balance. Instead, he promotes the concept of “work-life blending,” where no clear boundaries exist between work and personal life. In his view, work should seamlessly integrate into one’s life, as it ought to be a defining passion.
These two are far from the only notable figures advocating for intense work cultures. Elon Musk is famously known for endorsing the idea of relentless hard work, often pushing his employees to endure exceptionally long and intense working hours, sometimes even sleeping in their offices, and to be ‘extremely hard core’.
He sees both time and people instrumentally through an exploitative and crude equation of more work equals more productivity. A swathe of research exists pointing to a non-linear relationship between the two, with long working hours actually diminishing productivity, leading to more mistakes and less efficient use of working time.
In European and North American societies, where the value of a strong work ethic remains deeply ingrained, work is often viewed as inherently virtuous. The ideal of putting in a “hard day’s work” continues to shape perceptions of what is expected or worthwhile in life. The culture—or perhaps cult—of overworking has deep roots and has been extensively studied. Karen Ho traces its origins to the 24/7 financial sector in New York, where a relentless, unending work ethic became the norm. That norm, for Ho, begins to leak out and infect other workplaces that previously operated on conventional timeframes.
The harmful effects of unbounded work are well-documented in the research literature. Both highly intense work and excessively long hours are associated with serious work-related health problems. For instance, clocking in more than 55 hours per weekhas been linked to increased risks of ischemic heart disease and stroke, alongside significant declines in emotional and mental well-being. Linkages also exist between intense hard-core work, cancer, increased alcohol and substance use, fatigue, sleep disruption, musculoskeletal problems, and leaving workers burned out, cynical, and disillusioned.
These observations are not new. Pioneering research led by Marmot and his colleagues in the 1980s highlighted clear connections between work and poor health. In particular, they found that workers who lacked control over their labour processes and experienced stress without meaningful symbolic, financial, or other rewards often suffered adverse health effects.
What I argue here is that the next phase of capitalism is poised to escalate the intensity of work-related health even further, turning it up to eleven on the exploitation dial. This is no longer just about “hard work” as it is traditionally understood. Instead, we are witnessing the complete colonization of existence, where work becomes all-encompassing to the point that any other activity is a waste of time. It is a super-charged capitalist realism of nothing but grinding work and very little reward. And the cult of long working hours will not just be restricted to a few niche companies. It will seep and spill into the general working domain.
Neo-liberalism, with its myriad discontents, was already detrimental to work-related health and well-being. However, the apparent emerging phase of oligarchic hyper-nationalist unfettered capitalism threatens to go even further. It is likely to bring about further erosions—if not outright attacks—on any space for life outside capitalist accumulation. In this scenario, every moment of existence risks being dedicated to the singular goal of valorisation. The beneficiaries of this turn will not be individual workers. They will not experience the giddying economic returns and the sugar rush of unelected power that the likes of the tech bros we saw clustered around Trump at his inauguration.
It will instead be longer, more intense hours for less pay, resulting in workers’ emotional and physical decline.
As with any epidemic we need a public wide response. How do people avoid the contagion of excessive and pointless working that will damage and impair their health and wellbeing? Power in the workplace is definitely asymmetric at this point in time. The gains made by workers in the 1960s and 1970s have been rolled back by successive waves of pro-capitalist governments of different political hues. But that does not mean that all worker power is gone. Unions can and do win better conditions for their members. Countries with higher densities of organised labour are often healthier with higher levels of wellbeing and all-round life satisfaction. In the United Kingdom we can point to the actions of the RMT in not just defending their member’s pay and conditions but improving them.
The future need not be as dire as the oligarchs want for anyone outside their circle. The epidemic of work-related ill health that I predict here need not happen. That prognosis depending on the solidarity and cooperation of working people.
An epidemic of poor work-related health and well-being may be upon us if the oligarchs have their way
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An epidemic of poor work-related health and well-being may be upon us if the oligarchs have their way
by Chris Yuill Mar 12, 2025Sergey Brin, Google’s CEO, has reportedly encouraged his employees to commit to 60-hour work weeks, expecting them to be in the office every weekday—heavily implying that weekends might no longer be sacred. Similarly, James Watt, founder of the craft beer giant BrewDog, has called for the abandonment of the traditional idea of work-life balance. Instead, he promotes the concept of “work-life blending,” where no clear boundaries exist between work and personal life. In his view, work should seamlessly integrate into one’s life, as it ought to be a defining passion.
These two are far from the only notable figures advocating for intense work cultures. Elon Musk is famously known for endorsing the idea of relentless hard work, often pushing his employees to endure exceptionally long and intense working hours, sometimes even sleeping in their offices, and to be ‘extremely hard core’.
He sees both time and people instrumentally through an exploitative and crude equation of more work equals more productivity. A swathe of research exists pointing to a non-linear relationship between the two, with long working hours actually diminishing productivity, leading to more mistakes and less efficient use of working time.
In European and North American societies, where the value of a strong work ethic remains deeply ingrained, work is often viewed as inherently virtuous. The ideal of putting in a “hard day’s work” continues to shape perceptions of what is expected or worthwhile in life. The culture—or perhaps cult—of overworking has deep roots and has been extensively studied. Karen Ho traces its origins to the 24/7 financial sector in New York, where a relentless, unending work ethic became the norm. That norm, for Ho, begins to leak out and infect other workplaces that previously operated on conventional timeframes.
The harmful effects of unbounded work are well-documented in the research literature. Both highly intense work and excessively long hours are associated with serious work-related health problems. For instance, clocking in more than 55 hours per weekhas been linked to increased risks of ischemic heart disease and stroke, alongside significant declines in emotional and mental well-being. Linkages also exist between intense hard-core work, cancer, increased alcohol and substance use, fatigue, sleep disruption, musculoskeletal problems, and leaving workers burned out, cynical, and disillusioned.
These observations are not new. Pioneering research led by Marmot and his colleagues in the 1980s highlighted clear connections between work and poor health. In particular, they found that workers who lacked control over their labour processes and experienced stress without meaningful symbolic, financial, or other rewards often suffered adverse health effects.
What I argue here is that the next phase of capitalism is poised to escalate the intensity of work-related health even further, turning it up to eleven on the exploitation dial. This is no longer just about “hard work” as it is traditionally understood. Instead, we are witnessing the complete colonization of existence, where work becomes all-encompassing to the point that any other activity is a waste of time. It is a super-charged capitalist realism of nothing but grinding work and very little reward. And the cult of long working hours will not just be restricted to a few niche companies. It will seep and spill into the general working domain.
Neo-liberalism, with its myriad discontents, was already detrimental to work-related health and well-being. However, the apparent emerging phase of oligarchic hyper-nationalist unfettered capitalism threatens to go even further. It is likely to bring about further erosions—if not outright attacks—on any space for life outside capitalist accumulation. In this scenario, every moment of existence risks being dedicated to the singular goal of valorisation. The beneficiaries of this turn will not be individual workers. They will not experience the giddying economic returns and the sugar rush of unelected power that the likes of the tech bros we saw clustered around Trump at his inauguration.
It will instead be longer, more intense hours for less pay, resulting in workers’ emotional and physical decline.
As with any epidemic we need a public wide response. How do people avoid the contagion of excessive and pointless working that will damage and impair their health and wellbeing? Power in the workplace is definitely asymmetric at this point in time. The gains made by workers in the 1960s and 1970s have been rolled back by successive waves of pro-capitalist governments of different political hues. But that does not mean that all worker power is gone. Unions can and do win better conditions for their members. Countries with higher densities of organised labour are often healthier with higher levels of wellbeing and all-round life satisfaction. In the United Kingdom we can point to the actions of the RMT in not just defending their member’s pay and conditions but improving them.
The future need not be as dire as the oligarchs want for anyone outside their circle. The epidemic of work-related ill health that I predict here need not happen. That prognosis depending on the solidarity and cooperation of working people.