Overload, Erin Kelly
Overload, Erin Kelly
List: $24.99 | Sale: $17.50
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Overload
How Good Jobs Went Bad and What We Can Do about It

Author: Erin Kelly, Phyllis Moen

Narrator: Janet Metzger

Unabridged: 10 hr 42 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 03/17/2020


Synopsis

Today's ways of working are not working—even for professionals in "good" jobs. Responding to global competition and pressure from financial markets, companies are asking employees to do more with less, even as new technologies normalize 24/7 job expectations. In Overload, Erin Kelly and Phyllis Moen document how this new intensification of work creates chronic stress, leading to burnout, attrition, and underperformance. "Flexible" work policies and corporate lip service about "work-life balance" don't come close to fixing the problem. But this unhealthy and unsustainable situation can be changed—and Overload shows how.

Drawing on five years of research, including hundreds of interviews with employees and managers, Kelly and Moen tell the story of a major experiment that they helped design and implement at a Fortune 500 firm. The company adopted creative and practical work redesigns that gave workers more control over how and where they worked and encouraged managers to evaluate performance in new ways. The result? Employees' health, well-being, and ability to manage their personal and work lives improved, while the company benefited from higher job satisfaction and lower turnover. And, as Kelly and Moen show, such changes can—and should—be made on a wide scale.

About Erin Kelly

Erin L. Kelly is the Sloan Distinguished Professor of Work and Organization Studies at the MIT Sloan School of Management and an affiliate of the MIT Institute for Work and Employment Research and the Good Companies, Good Jobs Initiative.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Adrienne on May 31, 2024

This book summarizes a case study in which the authors developed a program to alleviate burnout among employees at a multinational tech firm. It was helpful in understanding burnout in a corporate or industrial setting, especially pertaining to middle management and remote vs. in-office work. This i......more

Goodreads review by Ben on June 21, 2020

Important book about a really pervasive issue. I feel everyone should read this. 3.4/5......more

Goodreads review by V on March 24, 2020

I was hopeful this book would provide insight that would be applicable for real life. It appears to be that the author conducted a study where initiatives promoting work-life balance where implemented at an unnamed company and the results documented. Much of the book is rehashing the same points and......more

Goodreads review by Sergio on May 27, 2020

Questo testo è basato su un esperimento "sul campo" di "work redesign", volto a combattere gli effetti del cosiddetto "Overload" da lavoro. L'esperimento, realizzato nel dipartimento IT di una Fortune 500 per oltre 5 anni, ha permesso di validare un approccio che permette di migliorare la produttivi......more

Goodreads review by Brittany on October 21, 2021

What a lens to reflect on the past 1.5 years (it released March 2020) through, as well as to imagine the promise and perils facing workers’ #returntowork Very thoughtful and thorough examination into how overbearing many middle/ upper middle class jobs have become. Excellent resource for any study i......more