Sigmund Freud observed that the goal of psychoanalysis is the transformation of misery into normal unhappiness. Recent findings from the American Psychological Association on American workers suggest that this process may also work in the opposite direction — focusing too much on personal unhappiness can lead to misery.
The APA survey, conducted in early 2024, sampled more than 2,000 workers aged 18 and up. The topline findings were quite positive: 93% of respondents are proud of their work and more than 80% are satisfied with their coworker relationships. However, 59% of workers believe their employer overestimates workplace health, and 39% worry that reporting mental health issues could have negative consequences.
Two-thirds of respondents reported symptoms of “burnout” in the past month, despite the fact that only 36% said they work more than 40 hours a week.
The data suggest young workers may be struggling the most with social aspects of work. Nearly half of young workers said their ideas were not valued, compared to 32% of the general sample and 16% of those over 65. A separate American Enterprise Institute survey saw a similar relationship between age and internal feelings of professional doubt: 39% of 18-29-year-olds said frequent professional doubt described them somewhat or very well, compared to only 25% of those 50 to 64 years of age and 22% of those over 65.
As with the APA report, the AEI survey found that job satisfaction rises over time, with older workers significantly more satisfied with their work than new entrants to the workforce. What younger workers say they value most in their jobs — flexibility to combine work with personal needs and a welcoming workplace — are reflected in the APA findings.
When we interviewed younger workers who took part in our survey, many expressed needing time for self-care and exercise to deal with stress. They also talked about having to leave parts of themselves behind to fit into their jobs, sometimes described as “code-switching.” Many of these concerns, of course, fall into the “to be expected” category as younger workers adapt to the demands of workplaces that are, in some cases, considerably more demanding than the schools they attended.
Jonathan Haidt, the renowned social psychologist and author of “The Anxious Generation,” argues that social media and technology have exacerbated these trends by driving up rates of youth anxiety and depression worldwide. Many young adults, products of 21st-century hyper-individualism, grew up amid toxic social comparison and isolation, rather than the risk-taking and free play of earlier generations.
These effects, which Haidt described in his previous book, “The Coddling of the American Mind,” have reduced social and attentional capacity among Gen Z students and workers, creating a fragmented sense of identity and purpose. The pandemic added fuel to this fire, especially for those who happened to be in transition from childhood to young adulthood. The sobering reality is that many of these metrics were already in decline long before the smartphone and social media helped accelerate the prevalence of mental illness among youth.
Many top employers have recognized the challenge and met it with awareness campaigns and insurance plans that offer mental health support, or partnerships with companies that provide care. Ironically, this focus on mental health transparency and resources could deepen the mental health challenges younger workers are facing. Some psychologists worry about “concept creep” that pathologizes normal developmental processes, leading workers to over-interpret negative feelings in the workplace.
To be clear, it is a step forward that people with mental health challenges are finding support at work. At the same time, negative side effects caused by excess inward focus also need attention.
Clay Routledge, director of the Human Flourishing Lab at the Archbridge Institute, says that today’s younger workers may have it backwards. Significance, he says, comes from focusing outside of oneself. If work is an inherently social activity, then encouraging younger workers to adopt a more outer-directed perspective on work and life may be a key step toward strengthening the work-based social connections that help support mental health and happiness.
In a world where so many traditional sources of meaning — family, religion and civic participation — are fading, many have turned to their jobs for purpose. It’s a delicate balance; work cannot provide all the meaning required for human beings to flourish. Expecting work to fill all the gaps left by a withdrawal from family, faith and community can turn the workplace into a source of chronic disappointment, bitterness and conflict. We need more than one venue for “making meaning” in our lives.
The idea of work being fundamentally social in nature is not new. Adam Smith described how the human tendency to “truck, barter and exchange” as producers and consumers was a natural outworking of our inherently social nature. Work is not a cure for unhappiness, but by approaching it mainly as an act of service to colleagues and customers, it can play an important part in a happy and healthy life.
Brent Orrell is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute studying vocation, careers and work. Hunter Dixon is a research associate at AEI.