Is passion your job? It can be more detrimental than you think
passion. It's perhaps the most common advice given to job seekers.
The implication: You can only be your best at work when you're doing something you truly love.
Yet according to a growing body of research, an overemphasis on passion for one's work can be detrimental in a number of ways.
«It doesn't provide an opportunity to develop an identity outside of work,» said Erin Cech, an associate professor of sociology at the University of Michigan. «In addition, employers who prioritize passion expect people to give more time and energy without being paid more.»
While the idea that a job need not be a calling is not new, experts said the pandemic and the changes it advanced in the working world might be encouraging people to rethink what passion for a job really means.
«We've been told that you can self-fulfill only through work, but people are beginning to see there are other aspects of life as important or more important than work,» said Jae Yun Kim, an assistant professor of business ethics at the Asper School of Business at the University of Manitoba.
