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Nervous about writing this because it’s such a loaded conversation - but part of me is dreading going back to work next week because I can’t work the hours I did in 2020 again, & yet I’m struggling to see how I can avoid doing so. 1/

Replying to

@AkikoMHart

Overwork is glorified in so many sectors & the VCSE sector has its own spin on it. Covid just created a constant crisis mode on top of this - working weekends & evenings became normal in March & it hasn’t let up. 2/

There are strange, unspoken emotional transactions at the heart of this kind of work. It’s not set up to be “just a job”. And yet it is also deeply gendered, classed & racialised: not *everyone* in the sector burns out. 3/

We might talk, sometimes, about how we should tackle overwork & burnout - but not *why* overwork keeps the sector going, and sustains inequality within it. 4/

I’m so aware that work, for me, is something that brings me joy and meaning, that that in itself is a privilege, that I have a choice about so much of this. This is different - it’s not about loving work, it’s about unsustainable overwork which is hurting me & my family. 5/

I don’t know what the answers are here. I can’t see the demand or need letting up in 2021. But I can’t go back to the relentless hours I & others put in. I don’t want to get sick, & I don’t want to look back on 2021 & just see zoom, work & exhaustion. 6/

In the last 10 days I’ve been present with my family for the first time this year. That sucks. I’m sick of being tired. I’m sick of telling people I’m tired when they ask me how I am. I’m sick of seeing my tired face on zoom (I’m also sick of zoom). 7/

For me there is something about opening up conversations about why there is the expectation that we work in this way in this & other sectors, who it benefits, who the burden really falls on, & what are the costs. 8/

Replying to

@AkikoMHart

I hope that we can keep on changing how we work and challenge what our expectations are of one another so that we prioritise one another’s health. It’s got to be about outcomes, not hours worked & I’m determined to stop having one hour meetings just because zoom defaults to that!

I have recently started to talk about starting meetings at 10 mins past the hour to create space between meetings and regularly put in just 30 mins.., increases focus!

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Akiko Hart

@AkikoMHart

Mental health, prisons & detention | CEO of

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