Workplace Wellbeing: Fuelled by passion but running on empty 

You may see your job as a labour of love, but what happens when it involves working long hours with little pay and limited prospects? Negotiating with your manager is a good place to start

Young, tired woman working from her home office late at night

IS IT time we stopped referring to some jobs as ‘callings’? Careers in teaching, healthcare, the arts, and the charity sector have long been seen as vocations because they attract people who are passionate about the profession. However, research has identified a phenomenon known as ‘passion exploitation’, where people’s devotion to their work is used to justify poor pay and working conditions.

An American paper, published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology in 2019, found that while caring deeply about one’s work is beneficial in many ways, it can also legitimise unfair management practices, such as asking employees to work extra hours without pay or take on tasks that aren’t in their job description. Certain employers, the researchers found, believed passionate workers would have volunteered for their work if given the chance and that the work was a reward in itself.

Dr Erin A. Cech is an associate professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Michigan. She is also the author of The Trouble with Passion, a book that argues nobody benefits from workers being taken advantage of in this way.

“Least of all employees who should be properly rewarded for the benefit they bring their employer,” she says.

She points out that such treatment is most prevalent in fields dominated by women and minority groups. “Take teaching, for example,” she says. “It’s been dominated by women for centuries and whenever teachers ask for more pay or better benefits, you hear the same old argument in response: ‘You’re in this work because you love it. That should be enough for you.’”

Helena Tubridy from Athboy in Meath knows how it feels to be undervalued at work. She’s now a fertility coach and midwife, but when she first entered the workplace, she was a nurse and midwife in Ireland and Britain.

“Most nurses and healthcare workers go into the field because they care deeply about people and want to make a difference,” she says. “But the system — with its lack of adequate staffing, resources and recognition — fails to support them.”

That was why she left nursing. “The long hours, no breaks, constant emotional and physical demands, and poor pay compared to the responsibility I carried all contributed to my decision,” she says.

“I loved nursing and being a midwife, but the working conditions made it unsustainable. You can only run on passion for so long before burnout takes over.”

Springboards and safety nets

According to organisational psychologist Leisha Redmond McGrath, employees can also be taken advantage of in sectors not traditionally associated with low pay.

“The law, the arts, and media all have a culture where people are expected to intern for little or no money before being given the opportunity to move up the ranks,” she says. “Many of us can accept working hard without being paid much for a limited time. We can put up with short-term pain for long-term gain. It’s when it persists and you’re still making the coffee and not being offered the experience and exposure you need to progress many months later that it becomes an issue.”

Cech draws our attention to another potential problem. People are affected differently depending on their financial means. Someone whose parents can support them while they take on an unpaid internship has an advantage over someone whose parents can’t.

“Lots of people don’t have what I call springboards and safety nets,” she says. “Springboards help you get into competitive fields, things like a connection through a family member or friend. Safety nets are things like family members willing to let you stay in their house rent-free while you’re not earning. Generally, it’s well-off folks who have access to these, and those who aren’t well-off can find themselves excluded from certain industries.”

While it might seem employers stand to gain from practices such as junior employees being paid very little, or workers being expected to work extra hours without pay, it’s not quite that simple.

Leisha Redmond McGrath: Not healthy to derive entire sense of purpose from work.

Redmond McGrath believes these practices will likely reduce the talent pool they have to draw upon.

“Employers won’t attract enough of the right people and even if they do, many won’t stay,” she says. “And of those that stay, we know they won’t work at their best if they aren’t happy or engaged.”

A 2024 Gallup report, which analysed data from 736 research studies across 347 organisations in 90 countries, found that teams with the highest engagement levels generated 21% more revenue than those with the lowest.

Set your own boundaries

So, what can you do if you decide to challenge what you see as unfair workplace practices? Redmond McGrath recommends starting by checking in with yourself.

“Everyone has individual needs and resources,” she says. “Ask yourself how much you can put up with in the short term.”

Next, have a conversation with your employer. “Get clarity on your role and what’s expected of you,” she says. “If you put in the time and effort now, do you have a commitment that it will pay off in terms of moving up the ladder in future?”

Cech advises being open and honest. “Tell your manager what you’re actually doing in your job and ask if the pay and reward structure could be more aligned,” she says.

You may have more impact if you speak out as a team rather than as an individual. “If you’re feeling this way, others probably are too,” says Cech. “You’re more likely to be heard and initiate change in terms of the policies and practices of your workplace if you speak collectively.”

If your managers do not listen, it may be time to rethink your relationship with your work. Cech believes two recent societal changes have driven us to invest more of ourselves than ever in our work. One is job insecurity. “We started telling ourselves that if we couldn’t find secure work, we may as well find work we love,” she says.

The other is the loss of community spaces like churches that gave us a sense of meaning in life. “Our jobs seem to be an alternative, readymade space to create a narrative for ourselves,” she says.

There’s an inherent danger in investing too much of who we are in what we do. Cech cites colleagues in the States who have spent decades working in diversity, equity and inclusion, only to lose their jobs at the stroke of President Trump’s pen.

“All of a sudden, their jobs were gone and they aren’t the only ones whose industries are at risk of disruption,” she says.

“Whether it’s rock climbing or art, we would all benefit from having anchors to our identity outside of work that allow us to build our sense of identity and develop our passions.”

Redmond McGrath agrees that it is not always healthy for people to derive their entire sense of purpose from their professional work. She urges us to find a compromise rather than giving our all to our jobs.

“If you’re burned out from working on the frontline, perhaps the time has come to move to an office job,” she says. “Or maybe get another job where you are happier with the working conditions, and you can engage your passion through volunteering or hobbies. Work needs to be manageable and allow you to live your wider life. It shouldn’t come at too high a cost.”