Bossed Up How We Get Over Overwork to Build a Better Life
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Sep 17, 2024 
Brigid Schulte, a renowned journalist and director of the Better Life Lab at New America, dives deep into the pervasive issue of overwork. She discusses the urgent need for structural reform to create a healthier work-life balance, particularly for women under strain. The conversation debunks the myth of the American Dream, revealing a stark divide in productivity vs. wages. Brigid advocates for a broader understanding of work, emphasizing the value of unpaid labor and the crucial role of policy changes in fostering employee well-being.
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From Personal Blame To Systemic View
- Brigid Schulte moved from seeing overwhelm as personal failure to recognizing systemic causes like public policy and workplace structure.
- She spent a decade researching work culture to find hopeful, scalable solutions rather than individual fixes.
Productivity Gains Aren't Reaching Workers
- Productivity has risen since WWII but wages flattened from the 1970s onward, shifting gains to the top 1%.
- People work harder yet earn less because owners capture most productivity gains.
Work Includes Unpaid Care
- Schulte defines work broadly: paid labor plus unpaid care, volunteering, and household tasks.
- She argues all that activity deserves value, visibility, and fairness like market work.
