"Always On" Culture and Its Impact on Creative Burnout
- Adilla
- Jan 23
- 5 min read
It’s midway through the month. It seems like your team’s energy has depleted, as if they had run a marathon. But they are responding to fixes immediately and are always there to reply to chats and emails.
Your team might be implementing an “always on” work culture without realising it.
In the long run, this expectation of having to be “always on” can harm your team, causing them to burn out faster.
In this article, we explain what “always on” culture is and why creatives are expected of it. Plus, the impacts of having to be available constantly and the best practices of a more sustainable work environment.
Table of Contents
What Is “Always On” Culture?
An “Always On” culture is an expectation of employees to be available and responsive to work demands outside of the set working hours, with no boundaries between working hours and personal time. This type of culture existed because of the ability of digital connectivity, where work can be accessed anywhere you are.
How “Always On” Culture Became Embedded in the Creative Industry
Hustle Culture Becoming a Norm
It’s not uncommon to hear about the hustle culture that’s in the creative industry, especially for animation projects. Working long hours has become normalised or even expected in this industry. For instance, in animation, producing just a five-second scene requires multiple detailed stages, each needing careful attention, aside from catching up with deadlines and staying within budget.
Despite knowing the effects of working long hours, this unhealthy culture is embedded in the creative industry. The reason might come down to one root cause: survival. This stems from needing to earn a monthly income to cover necessities and the need to keep the creative passion alive.
The Misunderstood Nature of Creativity
It seems that what is understood of the creative nature is that creatives require odd hours to work on their projects. It's undeniable that some artists are wired differently, especially at night when there are the fewest distractions from the outside world.
However, it shouldn't be interpreted as working normal morning hours plus extra late hours afterwards just because they naturally... can. Without proper rest to recharge, no one can perform their best.
To this day, this misunderstanding persists with minimal awareness or industry-wide adjustments. The causes, one more time, can vary – poor planning, being heavily result-oriented, unreasonable expectations from decision makers, etc.
Technological Blurring of Boundaries
Ever since working from home (WFH) or working from anywhere (WFA) has become a common form of work, the boundaries of work and personal space have blurred. However, this started way back when BlackBerrys opened the ability to access emails outside of personal computers, even more so with smartphones now.
Technology is a tool provided to support people in gaining a productive and efficient approach to life so that their time and energy can be invested elsewhere — for example, in quality time with family or friends. That's why when the tool is used with an unhealthy intention, things go sideways.
Technology has successfully (both for good and bad) blurred the lines of work boundaries. The convenience of technology, instead of supporting a higher quality of life, turns into another push for hustle culture.
Now, almost everyone feels the need to download work apps on their phones. This constant connectivity makes it hard for workers to 'switch off', leading to them being expected to be available constantly.
Competitive Pressure
The creative industry is highly competitive, leading to creatives setting an expectation for themselves to be always available and productive in hopes they will remain employable. This could stem from feeling inadequate, as not all creative projects come with constant ‘ups’. Meaning that they might feel the mistakes they make could lead to negative repercussions.
Best Practices to Have a Sustainable Work Environment
The “always on” culture causes more than just creative burnout; it leads to buildups of negative emotions that affect the team’s overall performance and ability to produce their work. Thus, it’s essential to maintain a creative environment that balances work and rest.
While it sounds admirable to be “always on”, it does more harm than good overall. So, practising a more sustainable creative workplace culture prevents the potential risk of creative burnout.
Set Clear Expectations and Lead by Example
In creative project management, it’s important to define what is urgent and how much effort is needed during the planning process. Most of the time, the rush to catch up with deadlines is caused by underestimation and lack of negotiation between leaders and stakeholders (with 52% of cases showing scope creep and tight timelines – Journal of Business Communication, 2022).
Establishing clear expectations for task delivery based on good estimation and clear priorities helps creatives take control of planning their own day without activating their nervous system, which might already be impacted by the nature of the industry.
Project managers who guide artists on how to organise their day while allowing room for autonomy can benefit both project and team health. Plus, leaders should practise a healthy example as well. It sends a message to the team that personal time is as important as showing up to work.
Promote Asynchronous Communication
A common issue for most of us, which we might not realise, is this: not everything is urgent, unless you're impatient and always need a constant response from everyone.
Rather than requiring the team to respond right away, how about starting a new norm by allowing everyone to address questions, requests, etc., at their own pace – when they're not urgent?
Applying asynchronous communication methods is a common practice. Multiple applications or platforms support this in your current workflow:
1. Emails: official, formal communication
2. Project management tools: task-based communication
3. Messaging platforms: day-to-day, quick communication
Foster Trust and Safety
Workload expectations can look different for different creatives. A creative workplace culture that allows creatives to speak up about the workload and set boundaries without fear of reprisal shows the trust and safety they have with their leaders.
Usually, most team members can't fully open up to their leaders due to the negative reputation often tied to leadership – such as power imbalances and retaliation – and this is still an ongoing issue globally. That's why, to build this trust, leaders, more than ever, have to put in effort to ensure their teams have space to speak up and share.
Key Takeaways
“Always on” culture can be a derivative of the hustle culture of the creative industry, which is working long hours beyond what is expected of them.
Knowing the impact of burnout from the “always on” culture promotes the importance of a better approach in a creative work environment.
Whether realising if your work environment has signs of an “always on” work culture or not, it is still essential to practise a healthy work-life balance.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Why does “Always On” culture affect creativity?
The “always on” culture creates constant stress from having to be available at all times. This cuts the resting time that creatives need to recharge their creative energy. Without it, they will burn out faster and lack the mental resources to produce innovative ideas.
What happens if you push through burnout?
Pushing through burnout will only cause further emotional and physical damage. Metaphorically, it’s like paddling an already sinking boat out. Whether you realise the warning signs or not, trying to work despite the exhaustion does more harm than good.
Author Bio
With a background in Arts English, Adilla has been a casual writer for various hobbies like parodies of animated shows and plots for board games. She loves to read anything and everything from fantasy stories to articles on tips and tricks. Now an advocate for mental health and effective project management for the creative industry. Currently, Adilla resides in Malaysia and is a creative writer at TESSR. To know more about her, check out her LinkedIn.
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