Downshifting: Quitting the rat race

The term downshifting is widely attributed to the work of John Drake, co-founder of HR consulting firm, Drake Beam Morin, who defines it as “changing voluntarily to a less demanding work schedule in order to enjoy life more”. Downshifters want to slow down at work in order to ‘upshift’ in other areas of their lives. Studies in Australia and overseas have uncovered a number of primary motivations. Downshifters, also called ‘sea changers’, may be pursuing a more balanced and fulfilling life. For instance, they may want to spend more time with their families, they may want to invest more time in their hobbies, or they may be motivated by a desire to live a less materialistic and more sustainable life. There is an increasing number of both males and females who want to bring the whole ‘rat race’ at work down to a slower speed, so they do not have to ‘get a life’. Many Australians dream of escaping the rate race and agree with the epigram: “The trouble with the rat race is, even if you win, you are still a rat.” At the same time, downshifters insist that they are not dropouts but are in pursuit of a more balanced lifestyle.

In Australia, the phenomenon of downshifting has been examined by Clive Hamilton, who refers to downshifters as “those people who make voluntary, long-term lifestyle changes that involve accepting significantly less income and consuming less”. He asserts that “Australians are working longer and harder than they have for decades and are neglecting their families and their health as a result”. The preoccupation with money and consumption has also come at an increasing cost, including consumer debt, personal bankruptcies and poor health. Hamilton’s study in 2003 revealed that, contrary to widely held beliefs, downshifters were as likely to be blue collar as white collar workers, and confirmed that there was an increasing trend to downshift in more recent years.

What drives downshifting? At the core of the downshifting phenomenon are values. Downshifters tend to place less value on money and individual possessions and instead focus more on time, health, and peace of mind. A number of key drivers of downshifting have been identified by the Australian Institute in 2003. They include a desire for a more balanced life, a clash of personal values in the workplace, a more fulfilled lifestyle, and poor health as a result of excessive stress at work.

A recent survey conducted in the United States showed that 19 per cent of adult Americans had voluntarily decided to reduce their income and consumption levels in the past five years. Similarly, the Australian Institute reported in 2003 that 23 per cent of adult Australians have chosen to downshift to a simpler lifestyle on less income over the past ten years. Similar findings have been reported in New Zealand and Canada. A survey in the UK in 2004 has revealed that four out of ten people under the age of 35 are planning to leave their high-powered, high-stress jobs and downshift at some point during their careers. A November 2004 poll conducted by the US News and World Report found that 48 per cent of Americans have done at least one of the following in the past five years: cut back their hours at work, declined or did not seek a promotion, lowered their expectations for what they need out of life, reduced their work commitments, or moved to a community with a less hectic way of life.

Anecdotal evidence of prominent downshifters abounds. Australian Gabriela Mouson, 41, is a downshifter. A former HR director of a large bank, Mouson recently downshifted from a secure corporate job, to being a work-at-home mother. “I always found HR to be a meaningful career, but, like any job, I would spend half my day doing what I loved to do and the other half of my day doing what my job description required me to do,” says Mouson. Increasingly, what she found was that she loved the coaching and mentoring parts of HR, but not everything else that went with it. A little more than six months ago, she left to pursue her passions and went on to establish a coaching and consulting firm that helps individuals reach personal and business successes.

American Jordon Scott (name changed), 35, a senior mortgage lender working in a small-town branch for a major US bank, rejected an offer for promotion as a mortgage education trainer along with a significantly higher salary, so that he could spend more time with his family. He said: “Rejecting the offer was a sacrifice in terms of money and position, but I look at it like this: spending more time with my kids is worth gold to me – I want to be able to have the flexibility to drop my kids off to school in the morning, or even go home for lunch.”

A corporate view of downshifting

The emergence of downshifting is causing organisations to rethink the very nature of work and work arrangements: What is a full-time job? What is a part-time job? Who defines when and where a job is to be performed? What are the measurements by which companies remunerate for work? From a HR perspective, downshifting can be interpreted as the next level beyond work-life balancing. It requires companies to be even more creative in their understanding of what jobs are, the time it takes to do them, and what it means to integrate business needs with employee motivation, talent, and the pursuit of individual happiness.

Clearly, if employees are overworked, they are not able to balance the rest of their lives, irrespective of how attractive their remuneration is and no matter how many perks they receive. Downshifters may not necessarily be cynical, angry, or overly critical. They simply do not fit into the traditional fast-track mold anymore. They are also measuring ‘success’ by their own standards. In response, downshifters are expecting companies to be more flexible and accommodating in their endeavours.

So, how do modern companies support the ways of downshifters? Eric Lane (name changed), HR director of a large Australian insurer, states: “We’re definitely seeing people who are not only interested in their careers, but also interested in being a whole person – having their work lives, their family lives, and their community lives.” John Scaali (name changed), a senior HR manager, adds: “A lot of people are involved in their communities. They may have a family or family life, or they may take care of an ageing parent. In any case, they want to make a meaningful contribution to people around them – this is a very important aspect”.

Bob Smith (name changed), a HR executive with an Australian retailer, says: “We provide our managers with a lot of flexibility in creating an environment that works for people rather than trying to fit people into a preset mold. It’s a talent focus. The company optimises the talent focus by not having rigid policies. Rather, we allow managers to work with individuals on helping them succeed. The key issue is access to great talent and the flexibility around how to best access and retain that talent. I am certainly not convinced that firm and inflexible policies would be the trigger for that.”

Chicago-based Morningstar Inc. has become a self-acclaimed employer of choice, attracting people to a workplace that provides growth opportunities, a dynamic work environment and a relaxed work-lifestyle. According to employee Bevin Lemond (name changed), “People want to be seen as adults, capable of managing their own careers, and their own lives” and “People want the freedom to manage their work and their careers as they see fit”. Indeed, Lemond has observed a gradual shift away from the big, bureaucratic and highly stressful environments to companies whose corporate culture empowers people to find greater balance in the pursuit of professional and non-professional activities.

Admittedly, corporate Australia already has made some concessions toward work-life balancing by providing telecommuting, job-sharing, part-time work, flextime, and sabbaticals. However, downshifters are increasingly expecting more innovative solutions to modern life’s dilemmas. As a consequence, companies are progressively more compelled to accommodate downshifters and to respond with even more creative ideas.

Is HR ready for downshifting?

Flexibility obviously creates staffing challenges for management. In some companies and departments, flexibility is clearly limited. Blue-collar plant workers, for instance, will not be able to telecommute, so there are certain functions and environments that are more inclined toward certain formats of flexibility. A Sydney-based media agency, for example, offers its employees flextime arrangements in the form of job sharing and condensed workweek. Campbell (name changed), a senior HR consultant, remarks: “In a job-share arrangement, we have agreed that a review would be performed after a six-month-interval”. Campbell adds: “What I would say to other HR professionals is to be open to the flexibility concept and give it a try. There are many rewards in it for all parties involved –some benefits may not be visible up front”.

Where do you draw the line? Campbell recommends thinking ahead about what the business needs to accomplish. “If you get away from why you are in the business in the first place and focus too much on the needs of the individuals, then you don’t balance what’s really important [for the business],” he says, and “it’s a delicate balance between the business and what needs to get done to remain competitive and successful and the people you have behind to make it all happen”.

The future of downshifting

There are emerging signs that the downshifting trend is part of a bigger shift in values, attitudes and the notion of what constitutes success. Are contemporary organisations willing and able to accommodate downshifters? Prior to establishing work/life initiatives, it is important to ascertain whether the organisation’s culture is open and ready to support such programs. “The support from executive management is absolutely critical,” states John Alonso (name changed), a HR consultant. Bob Alan (name changed), a former CEO of a large Australian mining company adds: “Work/life programs should not be seen as an additional HR expense, but as a part of a corporate quest to achieve and maintain an image of an employer of choice and a means of achieving sustainable competitive advantage”. Alan says “it’s ultimately the employees themselves that bring success to a company”.