At the same time, living expenses are becoming prohibitively expensive. In turn, more people are looking for side hustles, alternative incomes to make ends meet. Nicole Black, a labor expert, argues that the ongoing cost-of-living crisis is pushing Americans to work more hours at an alarming rate. Others are working second jobs just to pay the bills. To support this shift, the growing trend of workers’ power has created an exciting grassroots community. They are currently succeeding at balancing their day jobs while expertly touring the murder lanes of overemployed.
One such person is Ash, who has become a symbol of the movement. At her peak, she was able to handle as many as seven jobs at once, four of them full-time. Ash took the project seriously — sometimes working 20 hours a day, seven days a week. Her diligence was rewarded, and she ultimately collected a cool half million dollars. While she has since scaled back her commitments and now works two full-time jobs, Ash acknowledges the toll that such intense work has taken on her well-being.
“I didn’t want my employers to feel that there was time theft … so I did insane hours,” Ash said, reflecting on her decision to work tirelessly across multiple roles.
Ash’s experience is not unique. Countless others, like Jess, an engineer who once worked four jobs to make ends meet, have told us these stories. Jess has made the choice to unplug from her busy life as a co-founder. She asserts that the tenets of such corporate cultures—like loyalty to a single company—are outmoded. She thinks that private sector companies need to start being more nimble when it comes to employees.
If you can get a company where they are just like: ‘We don’t care what you do in your own time, as long as you deliver what we expect,’ then that’s basically a green light to do it, Jess stated.
As for Adam, he brings in a $140,000 overall salary from his main job. Now, for the first time, he’s looking closely at adding a second full-time gig. His decision speaks to a broader shift in workforce mindset. To help make ends meet, more Americans than ever before are looking to piece together several jobs.
Mark Wooden was the inaugural director of the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey for 20 years. He cautions that while overemployment might seem like a great financial opportunity, the toll it takes on mental health can be significant. “The effects of overemployment on mental health can be just as serious as the effects of underemployment,” he noted.
Indeed, the data reflects a growing trend. Over half a million people have joined an online Reddit forum dedicated to the practice of secretly holding multiple full-time jobs. The recently released 2023 HILDA survey corroborated this surprising trend. Almost a quarter of the multiply-employed would prefer to work fewer hours, including 24% of those with a second job and 23% of those with just one job. Millions are motivated to do the side-hustle thanks to rising costs putting a pinch on their wallets. There’s no doubt that the burden of long hours leads to unhappiness.
Jess elaborates on this complex relationship with work: “The people who say, ‘I’m working 75 hours a week and I love it’ … you might think they’re mad, but they don’t report their job satisfaction as bad, they don’t report their mental health as bad.” On the flip side, she notes that people who want to cut back on work are frequently much more anxious and depressed.
As tired workers endure the crushing reality of overemployment, they undertake precarious work that must eventually be brick-walled. Danny King recommends being careful on the contractual end, so that nothing prevents employees from doing dual or extra roles. “You’ve got to be careful that it doesn’t have obligations of exclusivity,” he cautioned.
This was true for Ash during her own peak overemployment peak—she often lived a hectic multitasking lifestyle. “I have done the two meetings at the same time before though … you’ve got one earpiece in just to listen, then the other one … It’s insane. I wouldn’t recommend it at all,” she recounted.
Even with the overwhelming stress of juggling many positions at unexpected hours, there are countless stories of workers who learn to adapt and flourish in this new ecosystem. “I always made sure that I was producing good work. This is not a case of slacking off and just riding the wave until you get caught and fired,” Jess remarked.
Jess also highlights a contrasting narrative in corporate leadership: “The CEOs all have multiple jobs, multiple things that they’re running all at the same time … why should we just follow the rules that the CEOs have decided?” This approach turns conventional ideas about work ethic and loyalty on their head and pushes for more formational flexibility in employment relationships.
What Ash and Jess both admit, though, are the impacts of overemployment outside of work. Ash said being stretched across seven jobs took a toll on her family life. “When I had the seven jobs … I would just push them off to the side until the end of the month or something. I don’t do this as much because it has impacted the kids,” she explained.
Jess shared insights into the emotional toll of juggling multiple jobs: “There was a lot of knock-on effects in personal life. I guess the added stress wasn’t ideal, and I realized that I put that on myself.” Her recognition of this truth addresses the complicated implications of overemployment, not just in a monetary sense, but emotionally and socially.