While covering the labor beat for publications such as The Atlantic and Wired, journalist Simone Stolzoff observed how work had become like a religious identity for many people. But it wasn’t until five years ago when he decided to leave the newsroom to join a design firm, that the concept became personal. 

“It really threw me for an existential loop,” he told moderator Steve Koepp during a fireside chat session at From Day One’s September virtual conference. “Maybe some of our listeners have been in a similar sort of career crossroads where it didn’t feel like you were choosing between two jobs as much as it felt like you were choosing between two versions of you.”

That’s what prompted Stolzoff to write The Good Enough Job: Reclaiming Life from Work. This book, which comes at a time when millions of workers are realizing they want to create better boundaries between their jobs and the rest of their lives, casts light on ways employees and their managers can take new approaches to help workers flourish on and off the job.

Stolzoff advocates for focusing on work while on the clock, but also understanding the importance of going home when the work day is done. 

“I think so many people, myself included, can fall into the trap of letting work, expand like a gas and fill all of our unoccupied space and kind of perpetually stay in a state of half-work with one eye open on our emails,” he said. 

However, he added, “we are more than just workers. We are also friends and parents and neighbors and citizens. And those identities need investment in the same way that our professional lives do.”

How Did Work Become an Identity? 

Conflating work and identity is nothing new in American culture, according to Stolzoff. “You might say that capitalism and the Protestant work ethic were the two strands that intertwined to form our country’s DNA,” he said. “But I do think there is something about the past 40 or 50 years that has really made work more central.”

One reason why people’s relationship to work in the United States is so fraught is the consequences of losing your job are severe, according to Stolzoff. For example, many employees have their healthcare tied to their jobs, and an immigrant’s ability to stay in the U.S. is often contingent on their employment status.

There’s also the popular concept of the workplace as a family.

“I really think the ethos behind trying to create a family-like work environment is often well intentioned,” Stolzoff said. However, familial love ideally is unconditional, but relationships in the workplace are conditional by definition, says Stolzoff. 

“Your work can be your family until they let you go, which is something that so many people found out during the pandemic,” he said.

How to Achieve a Healthy Work-Life Balance

It’s up to company leaders to take the first step in creating a culture that helps employees keep their work life separate from their personal life and identity, according to Stolzoff. 

“I think too often companies can have great policies or ideas in place. But if the CEO or your boss is responding to emails at 10 p.m. or answering Slack messages on their vacation, that culture is going to trickle down to the rest of the company,” he said. 

It’s crucial for companies to recognize employees who live outside the office and not contact them after hours, according to Stolzoff. He also said managers should help people connect with their intrinsic motivation and find their reason for working, beyond just accomplishing the daily tasks on their to-do list.

For some workers, that reason might be using their job as a vehicle for changing the world. However, other employees’ motivation might be providing security for their families or supporting themselves so they can do what they love outside of work. And none of these reasons are more noble than the others, according to Stolzoff. 

Finally, companies and employee benefits form an atmosphere of trust, which empowers workers to “get their work done how and when they see fit,” Stolzoff said. “I think the best managers are able to understand their employees as individuals, and to cater to the work style that works for them.”

Mary Pieper is a freelance reporter based in Mason City, Iowa.