When arriving at London's Heathrow Airport, one thing always grabs my attention. The HSBC advertisements, which cover the jetway walls right after disembarking from flights, capture so effectively the role of work in the fabric of our daily life. The advertisements are simple, each touching on some facet of an individual's “personal economy.” One advertisement reads, “We focus on the most important economy in the world. Yours.” Another states, “It's not just leisure, it's part of your personal economy.” These and other related HSBC advertisements are as frightening as they are ingenious. They show that this is an age in which work is central to how we define ourselves. We see ourselves as minieconomies, in which we must invest in order to maintain our skills, productivity and competitiveness. It is for this reason that the HSBC advertisements are so powerful.

In the modern world, what matters is that a person is working (this usually refers to gainful employment) and is busy in this work. It is better to have a job than to be without one, whatever this job might be. In other words, individuals must be occupied, taking action, for this signals value. Conversely, the idea of a person sitting alone, not doing anything, is interpreted as being unproductive— and in turn not good for the wider economy. Recent research suggests that millennials are firmly rooted in this work culture, this being a generation that forgoes leisure in favor of long hours. Harvard Business Review editor Sarah Green Carmichael notes that “according to a new survey by Project: Time Off and GfK, Millennials are actually more likely to see themselves— proudly— as ‘work martyrs’ than older workers, and less likely to use all their vacation time.”

A risk in work martyrdom, of course, is burnout, and here the Financial Times management editor, Andrew Hill, provides astute observations on millennial work culture through reflection on his experiences beginning as a trainee journalist. Hill argues that millennials should approach their work with modest aspirations, for some recent research that he cites suggests that viewing work as an intense calling raises the likelihood of burning out.