Covid and America’s Work-Life Balance | The Cameron Journal

The Covid-19 pandemic has sent many of America’s office workers to work from home. Essential and front-line workers have faced longer hours and more regulations for the same amount of pay they had before the crisis with no relief in sight. Some states and localities have passed hazard pay laws with much complaining and controversy from the local business community who is already in hard times due to the lockdowns. This whole process has started a whole new conversation about work in this country. As it turns out, commute time did not lead to more leisure time or more time with families; instead, commute times turned into more working hours. Americans already work more hours than other developed nations, and the average workday is now up to 10.5 hours. On top of that, many people feel that by working from home, they have to be available 24/7, which was a problem before the pandemic. Add in zoom calls, texts, slack messages, and so on, and soon the line between work and life can be non-existent. During the course of a long and significant crisis American’s couldn’t be bothered to take a break. Instead, we were supposed to start a hobby, fix up the house or learn to make sourdough. Whatever happened to just stopping everything and relaxing? It’s time to review America’s relationship with work and just because of the pandemic.

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