Post #3653476

2026-07-03 14:24 UTC

As a GP in Germany, I struggle with the claim that “people don’t want to work.” In daily practice, I see the opposite: many patients push themselves to keep working, even when they should rest. They worry about burdening colleagues, unfinished tasks, or upcoming deadlines. If we want to understand rising sick leave, we need to look at real factors: increasing workload, constant pressure, lack of recovery time, social isolation, and overall exhaustion. Reducing this to a question of “motivation” ignores both evidence and lived experience. In my experience, people who genuinely try to avoid work are a tiny minority. Framing the issue this way feels similar to old narratives about unemployment—oversimplified, misleading, and disconnected from reality. #MedMastodon #GeneralPractice #PrimaryCare #WorkStress #MentalHealth #SickLeave #HealthPolicy #Germany #Arbeitswelt #Burnout #PublicHealth #Reform #AU #Arbeitsunfähigkeit #Gesundheitsreform #gesundheitspolitik #gesundheitssystem

Replies (7)

@hsza@social.tudbut.de 2026-07-07 16:57

@hoppla@mas.to In my experience, people who genuinely try to avoid work are a tiny minority. and that is why work should be optional, so the majority of people who do want to actively contribute to society can do that with agency and without all the stress, and the rest can live whatever life they want for themselves

Open ##3653475
@mmby@mastodon.social 2026-07-09 05:21

@hoppla@mas.to Engel's had a term for it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_murder just because we're doing better in the mean, doesn't mean there isn't a long tail that still dips into similar conditions an extreme enough meritocracy is ultimately about proving your right to live

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@gary_alderson@infosec.exchange 2026-07-09 14:42

@hoppla@mas.to it applies to training also - the psychology but back it up with data #preventative care #human factors engineering #bioinformatics

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@markhughes@mastodon.social 2026-07-09 08:26

@hoppla@mas.to IMO this (the problems and the demonisation of those suffering) is rooted in the inequality that is the main result of capitalism, which in turn is the seed of fascism time and again. Until we can produce growth in a truly democratic system (where money does not relate to power), we are doomed to repeat the horrors of preceding centuries.

Open ##3706709
@dzwiedziu@mastodon.social 2026-07-09 13:04

@hoppla@mas.to When someone uses the phrase “people don’t want to work” it can mean that people don't want to work as hard and as cheap that someone wants. May that person may only work with non-yellow unions. Edit: essentially you cannot not work in a pay-to-live system.

Open ##3706711
@androcat@toot.cat 2026-07-09 06:22

@hoppla@mas.to You probably know this, but I am going to say it anyway: "people don't want to work" is not worth struggling over. It is an obvious piece of fascist propaganda. A far-right myth of an undeserving people "mooching off our poor hard-working job-creators". What a joke. It's so clumsy and obvious. Throw it down and step on it. If peopel are getting sick more: It's covid. It's car exhausts. It's hateful middle-aged men with power. All of that is enough to make a person sick.

Open ##3706766
@ABScientist@forall.social 2026-07-08 13:32

@hoppla@mas.to And long Covid. If you do not protect the population against repeated Covid, there will be more short-term and long-term illness.

Open ##3720272