CM 171: Anne Helen Petersen on Workplace Burnout

How did we get to a place where life's become an endless treadmill of work?

In her latest book, Can't Even: How Millennials Became the Burnout Generation, Anne Helen Petersen tackles this question. Her book is for anyone who feels their life has become an endless to-do list.

In particular, Petersen describes the plight of today's millennials, a generation she believes is under constant pressure to perform. She explains how, for many millennials, it begins in childhood, when activities originally intended for fun get repurposed for resume building. She argues, "You're taking things that are meant to be leisure, that are meant to be those joyful corners of your life that are not work, and you're turning them into work."

Petersen discusses the social and economic forces that have led to this cultural shift, including the demise of labor unions, increasing reliance on contract workers, and the rise of the gig economy. In each case, she points out how companies benefit, while workers struggle to make ends meet.

At the same time, she wonders if millennials are the generation that can break the cycle. She muses, "I'm curious if we can refigure our relationship to work. I am curious if millennials are broken, if we are just too far down this road, or if we can take a different road."

Anne Helen Petersen is a senior culture writer for BuzzFeed. A former academic, she received a Ph.D. at the University of Texas at Austin, where she focused on the history of celebrity gossip. Her previous books, Too Fat, Too Slutty, Too Loud and Scandals of Classic Hollywood, were featured on NPR, Elle, and The Atlantic.

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Episode Links

The Remix: How to Lead and Succeed in the Multigenerational Workplace by Lindsey Pollak

How Millennials Became the Burnout Generation by Anne Helen Petersen

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