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Today, Explained

The burnout economy

5/1/202625 min

From special coaches to luxury sleep vacations, you can beat burnout — for a price. This episode was produced by Danielle Hewitt and Peter Balonon-Rosen, edited by Jenny Lawton, fact-checked by Gabriel Dunatov, engineered by David Tatasciore and Bridger Dunnagan, and hosted by Noel King. Producer Peter Balonon-Rosen with his recording equipment in his room at the Sleep Lab at Equinox Hotel in New York. Listen to Today, Explained ad-free by becoming a Vox Member: vox.com/members. New Vox members get $20 off their membership right now. Transcript at ⁠vox.com/today-explained-podcast.⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Clips

Why hire a coach?
Band-Aids for burnout
Skeptic turned believer
The $2,000 sleep question
From sleep stigma to surge

Transcript preview

First 90 seconds

  1. Noel King· Host0:00

    [upbeat music] 100 years ago today, the Ford Motor Company adopted a standard for factory workers that would come to govern many of our lives, the five-day workweek. Ford was losing exhausted line workers who typically worked six days. So he wasn't trying to be nice here. He wanted a more stable and productive workforce. He was a classic capitalist.

  2. Henry Ford· Soundbite0:21

    If the young man makes up his mind to work, there's no limit to what he can do.

  3. Noel King· Host0:24

    But we're still burned out, and we're still looking for solutions to burnout. Today on Today Explained, 100 years after Henry Ford said, "Take a day off, guys," we're hiring life coaches, we're neutralizing our shame, LOL, we're going on sleep vacations. We're literally going on a sleep vacation. It's not gonna be like when you have anesthesia and then you wake up- Sure.

  4. Speaker 20:42

    Sure.

  5. Noel King· Host0:42

    ... and it's sort of whoa.

  6. Speaker 20:42

    Okay.

  7. Noel King· Host0:43

    Um, but you might feel a little mellow. And is it working? That's coming up. [upbeat music] Support for Today Explained comes from Starbucks. The energy of Friday is unmatched with work winding down and plans powering up, and what better drink to reach for than the new Starbucks Energy Refresher. With flavors like mango dragon fruit, strawberry acai, mango strawberry, you can get the boost you need on this particular Friday. Try the all-new Energy Refreshers at Starbucks. [upbeat music] You're listening to Today Explained. Kelly Maria Corduckie is a freelance journalist who

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