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Work-related stress is on the rise. And to quote Gen Z, who loves some dramatic verbiage, the overwhelm has employees totally “crashing out.” Crashing out can look like having a full blown freak out (think: losing it at a coworker, crying at your desk, or screaming in your car) or simply feeling internally unhinged and saying quietly to yourself Im crashing out. Im crashing out so hard right now. On TikTok Gen Z is crashing out over the big and small. (Think their dog eating their new Nike kicks.) However, one of the most common trends is crashing out over work. And while the videos are very often all in good fun and usually hilarious, that doesn’t mean that work-related pressure isn’t a very real issue. According to a new report with data from 2,000 full-time employees, there are definitely good reasons to be crashing out. Research from Owl Lab’s 2024 State of Hybrid Work Report finds 43% of workers say their work stress has increased in just one year. Furthermore, 89% say there has been no improvement in their troublesome work-related stress from the previous year. What is everyone crashing out about? Unfair compensation For starters, a good chunk of workers (22%) don’t feel fairly compensated, per the report. Many employees are “polyworking,” or working an additional job. Over a fifth (22%) of employees have another job in addition to their full-time job. Shockingly, this number is higher for managers: almost a third (32%) have another job. Unsurprisingly, managers’ stress levels are 55% higher than nonmanagers. Not enough flexibility Employees are also over having to go to the office, mainly, because it doesnt feel necessary to them. Half of workers feel that when they are forced to go into work it is only to “fill a seat.” Likewise, most workers (84%) say working from home gives them the ability to eat healthier meals. They also have to spend less money on food and parking. Hybrid workers report spending an average of $61 when working from the office versus working from home. Flexibility is majorly important to workers: 41% say if they lost their hybrid work privileges, they’d look for a new job. Office politics One major reason why employees don’t want to come into the office, aside from getting to work from the comfort of home, is political differences. Nearly half (45%) of U.S. workers said their colleagues’ political views have them wanting to stay home. While older generations are less likely to air their grievances online, Gen Z leans in. Overall one in three workers (34%) has posted something negative about their job or employer. However, nearly half (48%) of Gen Z employees have. And with that, crashing out has entered the chat.
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E-Commerce
Half of remote workers run errands on the clock, and over a quarter skip full days altogetherso its no surprise some bosses have grown wary of their employees working from home. But that doesnt mean remote work doesnt work. Were all different. While some people thrive while surrounded by colleagues, others excel in the quiet and comfort of their home office. Most employers will recognize that rigid rules wont produce optimal results, but convincing your boss that the office isnt the right environment for you will still take some hard work: managing your time, delivering consistently, and giving it your all. Heres how you can demonstrate that while remote working might not work for everyone, it is working for you: 1. Quantify your productivity Most remote workers dont manage eight hours of focused workbut neither do those in the office. From chitchat between colleagues to frequent coffee breaks, there are constant distractions. You just need to prove to your boss that youre not spending all of your time running errands and watching Netflix. Work flow tracking appssuch as Rize or Toggl Trackare a great way to quantify your productivity. Integrating with hundreds of common tools and automatically tracking your activity across your apps and browser, you can effortlessly create reports showing what youve done, when, and how long it took. With the right data, you can prove that youre actually achieving more from the solace of your home office. 2. Respond with strategic urgency You might mute your notifications to focus, but to your boss, this silence is suspicious. Are you getting on with your to-do list or running errands, having found a way to trick the employee tracking system? You dont need to live on Slack, but be ready to respond to urgent requests, whether for critical issues or deadlines that cant wait. Its not about being constantly available; its about being reliably responsive. 3. Highlight invisible tasks When working remotely, your behind-the-scenes efforts often go unnoticed. Nobody sees you supporting your junior colleagues, updating spreadsheets, or fixing broken processes, but that doesnt mean they arent important. Dont let your impact slip under the radar. During check-ins, highlight all your contributions with confidencenot as small tasks but as essential work that keeps the office ticking over smoothly. 4. Bring energy to every meeting If you’re half awake, barely dressed, and mumbling through early morning meetings, your boss will assume that’s your default setting. You might work from home, but you still need to show up. Get out of bed, jump in the shower, and put on something workplace-appropriateyou need to show you mean business. When your manager might only see you for 15 minutes a day, making the right impression makes all the difference. 5. Present your progress Your boss can’t see you glued to your screen or tapping your keyboard. For all they know, you’re heading to the shops or learning how to bake the second you switch your camera off. Telling them you’ve been busy is one thing, but showing them? There’s no arguing with evidence. Start the week with a Zoom call to define your goals, share your screen, and walk them through what youve been doing. Log them in a tracking tool such as Weekdone or Teamwork, and end the week with a visual report that shows just how hard you’ve been working. Over time, that visibility and transparency will build trustand your boss will stop worrying about what you’re working on and where youre working from. 6. Share your schedule If you want to build trust, transparency is the fastest way to earn it. Most calendar apps will let you share your schedule with your boss, which nips any doubt about where you are or what you’re doing in the bud. If your calendar is full of team meetings and client calls, there’s no question whether you’re deep in your workload or buried under your duvet. But you need time to work, too, and you should block it off just as you would an important call. Just avoid vague labels such as focus time. Be specific and make it goal-orientedBrainstorming: Q2 marketing or Writing: Leadership blog postso your boss isnt second-guessing whether youre really at your desk. 7. Beat your deadlines Do you constantly deliver work with seconds to spare before the deadline? At best, your boss will assume that you’re managing your time poorly while working remotely. At worst, they’ll suspect you’re deliberately holding back finished tasks to sneak in some extra downtime. The best way to squash these doubts? Deliver work before it’s due. You don’t need to keep ahead of your schedule constantly. However, the occasional early delivery tells your boss you’re working autonomously effectively and wouldn’t benefit from them hovering over your shoulder. 8. Use saved time to upskill You could hit snooze and sleep away all that time you’re saving by not having to commute, or you could invest that time in yourself. What challenges are slowing your team down, and which skills are in short supply? By filling those gaps, you’re not just benefiting your own career but providing additional value to your bosswhich will make them more accepting of your remote setup. If they’re still not convinced? Well, your sharpened skill set will open doors to companies that recognize and value the benefits of remote working. If youre clocking in, doing the bare minimum, and then sneaking out to run errands, your boss has every right to be concerned. But if youre putting in the effort and producing the results? Any doubts about the effectiveness of your remote working setup will fade fast. No decent boss wants to force you back into an environment that stifles your productivitythey simply want to ensure you aren’t spending your workday on social media, shopping, and catching up on sleep.
Category:
E-Commerce
If you pick up a pair of the newest sneakers from Stella McCartney, you might notice something unusual: The soles smell like cinnamon. Thats because theyre dyed with cinnamon waste rather than synthetic coloringone of the ways the soles were designed to be as sustainable as possible. Theyre also made from other plant-based components like castor beans. When the sneakers wear out, the soles can either be composted or recycled. [Photo: Stella McCartney] For the brand, the sole was the missing piece in making a circular product. A previous version of the sneaker, which came out in 2022, used materials like grape-based leather in the shoes upper and recycled TPUa type of plasticin the sole. But that wasn’t a complete solution. The fossil-fuel-based plastics in typical soles, like TPU or EVA, have multiple sustainability challenges. They’re energy-intensive to produce, and rarely recycled. When they end up in a landfill, the material can last hundreds of years. Even if a particular shoe uses recycled material, it can break down and create microplastic pollution when you walk or run. To find an alternative, Stella McCartney’s team partnered with Balena, a materials science startup focused on biopolymers. The real hurdle was how to match the durability and flexibility of traditional fossil-based plastics . . . using a bio-based material that could also break down at end of life, says Yael Vantu, head of product at Balena, which is based in Tel Aviv, Israel, and Milan. That balance of true compostability without sacrificing performance simply hadnt been cracked yet. Most biodegradable materials on the market just arent built to handle the stress, abrasion, and longevity needed in a sneaker sole. Thats where our material came in. [Photo: Stella McCartney] The startup engineered a new product, called BioCir Flex, designed to have the same comfort and resilience as conventional plastic, but with the ability to either be composted in an industrial facility or recycled. Essentially, we created a material that behaves like plastic when you need it, and like nature when youre done with it,” Vantu says. Balena had already started working on the material before the partnership with Stella McCartney, but then spent two years working with the designer label to go through multiple rounds of development, from lab tests to real-world production runs. The white version of the new sneaker, the $550 S-Wave, uses a mix of hemp and agricultural waste from the pineapple industry in the shoe’s upper. When the shoe wears out, it can be sent back to Stella McCartney. The company will then separate the components. While the soles can be composted, the brand priority is to recycle the material into new soles, so it can avoid the environmental footprint of making the material again from scratch. The material is still more expensive than standard TPU, both because bio-based manufacturing and circular supply chains are still maturing. Some brands, like Stella McCartney, are willing to foot the higher bill. “They see the value in future-proofing against regulations, reducing environmental risks, and building deeper connections with consumers who expect products to truly align with their values,” Vantu says. In theory, the material could scale up to be widely used in the industry. “Now its about building out robust supply chains and end-of-life systems and having brands prioritize circularity not just for capsule collections, but across their main lines,” Vantu says. “Regulatory momentum and growing consumer expectations are definitely accelerating that shift.”
Category:
E-Commerce
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