When Social Justice Ends at the Office Door

Employees work at online market Smile Shop in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Dec. 21, 2021. Photo by Xinhua/Wu Changwei

I took just three days off during the Water Festival to escape the relentless stress gnawing at my body and mind. In those fleeting days, I recharged — laughing with family, driving through the peaceful countryside, and running with my dogs.

For the first time in months, I felt like I could breathe. It made me realize I had been carrying a weight I wasn’t fully aware of, burdened by the constant chase of work.

Why have we normalized this toxic grind where work consumes everything, leaving us scrambling for scraps of balance? We talk endlessly about work-life balance, but let’s be honest — it’s often just lip service.

Too many workplaces exploit the concept, demanding endless sacrifices while pretending to care about well-being. It's infuriating.

The hypocrisy is glaring. Organizations whose very missions are rooted in equality, autonomy and justice often fail to uphold these values within their own walls.

They claim to champion human rights, social justice, or feminist ideals, yet their actions betray them. Instead of fostering environments of care and respect, leadership in these spaces perpetuates a culture of overwork, stress and guilt.

They demand sacrifices that leave employees — many women — burnt out, disconnected and questioning their worth.

Let’s call it what it is: exploitation dressed up as dedication. Late-night emails, weekend tasks, and last-minute demands are paraded as proof of commitment but they’re nothing more than toxic power plays that devalue people’s humanity.

The cost? Our health, our happiness and our ability to thrive. How can anyone champion justice and equality externally while denying those same principles to their teams?

I’ve asked myself this countless times: Why do people feel guilty for taking time to rest, for prioritizing their mental health, for saying “no” to unreasonable demands? Why has self-care become something people have to justify?

The truth is, this isn’t an accident. It’s a system designed to make us believe that our worth is tied to how much we can give — until there’s nothing left to give.

This isn’t just unsustainable; it’s detrimental. It’s detrimental to expect employees to work endlessly and sacrifice their health, relationships, and passions for a cause while robbing them of the joy and fulfillment that meaningful work should provide. It’s detrimental to normalize burnout and pretend it’s a badge of honor.

And it’s even more detrimental in mission-driven spaces, where the work is already emotionally draining. Supporting vulnerable communities challenging systemic injustices — these roles come with their own emotional weight.

Piling on a culture of overwork doesn’t just hurt employees; it erodes their ability to do the work effectively. How can you fight for justice and dignity when you’re too exhausted to think clearly or feel anything beyond frustration?

The feminist principle of care — the idea that we should value and nurture people — is glaringly absent in too many of these spaces. Instead, overwork and exploitation are excused under the guise of commitment to the cause.

But let’s be clear: this isn’t leadership, and it certainly isn’t feminism. It’s exploitation, plain and simple.

It frustrates me. So many of us are stuck in systems that undermine the ideals we’re trying to uphold. Frustrated that we’re forced to accept this as the norm. And frustrated that even as we fight for equality and dignity for others, we’re denied those same rights in our workplaces.

This has to change. Workplaces must stop pretending that passion justifies exploitation. True work-life balance isn’t a favor — it’s a fundamental right. It’s about creating spaces where people are valued, boundaries are respected, and well-being isn’t considered an afterthought. Anything less isn’t just harmful. It’s hypocritical.

If meaningful work is truly meaningful, it shouldn’t demand the destruction of the very people doing it. We can do better. We must do better. Without real care and balance, all the lofty ideals we claim to fight for will crumble under the weight of hypocrisy and burnout.

Seng Simouy is a graduate student in Women's and Gender Studies from Finder University, Australia. 

Cambodianess

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