Watch For EscalationIs This The New Era Of “Wellness”?
Some workplace rules are weird. But firing someone for a normal, biologically unavoidable behavior like yawning? That takes it to another level. And now, instead of addressing the bigger issue, like stress or overwork, your boss is asking everyone to log their energy levels every single hour. So what do you do when your workplace starts tracking your focus like it’s a performance score?
First, Document Everything
No, you don’t push back yet. You don’t stage a dramatic protest in the break room. You document. Quietly. Consistently. Start tracking what’s being asked of you, how often you're expected to report, what the form or format looks like, and—most importantly—any fallout you observe when someone doesn’t comply.
Watch For Escalation
Are people getting called out in meetings or CC’d emails? Do you notice that people with “inconsistent logs” aren’t getting the good projects? That’s when the bells should start ringing. If your energy score is being used to gauge your ambition or reliability, that’s a problem.
Ask For Written Policy
Make sure to ask for it in writing. Not with fire in your eyes, but with casual curiosity. “Hey, is there an official doc or policy on the energy tracking thing? Just wanna make sure I’m doing it right.” That kind of thing.
Ask For Written Policy (Cont.)
If they have a formal policy, you’ve got clarity. If they don’t? Well, now they have to explain why they’re enforcing a rule that doesn’t actually exist in writing. This also sets a subtle boundary—you're asking for transparency, not playing along blindly.
Use Neutral Language
And when it comes to filling out those logs, avoid dramatic language. Don’t write “exhausted” even if you feel like a reanimated ghost. Instead, stick with neutral, safe descriptors like “steady,” “okay,” “focused,” etc. These words sound cooperative without revealing too much.
Strategically Use Humor
A little sarcasm in the group chat can be therapeutic—“Logged ‘slightly less than energetic’ at 2:15, awaiting execution at 3.” But if your workplace has the sense of humor of a brick wall, a joke might land you in more trouble than it’s worth. Survival, after all, is also a performance.
Know Your Rights
While every workplace has its quirks, firing someone for something as involuntary as a yawn may cross a serious line, possibly even a legal one. Depending on your location and employment status, this kind of arbitrary dismissal could violate labor protections around fair treatment and due process.
HR: Friend Or Foe?
HR is supposed to be there for you, but in many places, they’re more about shielding the company from liability than making sure you’re okay. If your company’s HR operates independently and has a track record of actually advocating for employees, consider raising a gentle flag. If not, hold back.
Build Quiet Solidarity
Here’s the thing: if you’re uncomfortable, you’re probably not the only one. People may not be talking about it out loud, but they’re definitely thinking about it during every forced “energy check-in”. That’s your cue to start some soft networking.
Build Quiet Solidarity (Cont.)
Quietly compare notes with coworkers you trust. Has anyone else been reprimanded for their logs? Are others feeling the same pressure? You don’t need to form a union (yet)—just build a shared understanding. It’ll be a reminder that you’re not crazy, and you’re definitely not alone.
Consider External Advice
Sometimes the situation goes beyond internal resolution. If you’re starting to feel like you’re starring in a corporate version of The Truman Show, it might be time to quietly research outside resources. Know a few labor lawyers you can call if things hit the fan.
Don’t Internalize It
Look, none of this came out of nowhere. Workplaces have always flirted with monitoring, from punch cards in factories to keystroke loggers on laptops. Energy logs are just the latest costume on an old habit: mistrusting workers.
Don’t Internalize It (Cont.)
When you’re in a system that treats natural behavior (like yawning or feeling sluggish) as a threat, it’s easy to start doubting yourself. You wonder if you’re not working hard enough. But let’s be very clear: this is not about you.
Don’t Internalize It (Cont.)
It’s about someone at the top who thinks compliance equals productivity and oversight equals leadership. Don’t fall for it. Just because the company acts like you're a walking productivity chart doesn't mean you have to start thinking of yourself that way. The culture is broken, not you.
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Protect Your Mental Space
You're allowed to have off days. You’re allowed to need coffee. And you’re absolutely allowed to take a break and go for a walk without spiraling into existential dread about your “focus rating”. The point is: don’t give this policy more power than it deserves.
Ask The Bigger Questions
Where’s the line? Logging energy levels might seem harmless compared to keystroke trackers or webcam surveillance, but you’re still treating employees like lab rats. So, at what point does monitoring stop being about work and start being about your body?
How To Push Back
Rally a few like-minded coworkers and draft a respectful, well-phrased group email. This cannot be a rant. Just a calm, professional message that says, “Hey, we think there might be a better way”. You can also suggest alternatives like weekly wellness check-ins.
How To Push Back (Cont.)
Tell them that just because someone feels energized doesn’t mean they’re getting anything done. And just because someone’s a little low-energy doesn’t mean they’re slacking off. Energy is not a productivity metric because that’s like judging a car’s performance by the color of the paint.
How To Push Back (Cont.)
The key here is tone. Make sure that your message sounds collaborative instead of confrontational because, ultimately, the idea is to plant the seed of change without lighting your career on fire in the process.
Understand Their Thought Process
On the surface, this might be marketed as a wellness initiative. But let’s not kid ourselves. This has less to do with helping you feel energized and more to do with control. You’re in a culture that confuses being busy with being effective, which is not at all sustainable.
Reclaim The Narrative
If this is “wellness,” ask the obvious question: where’s the wellness part? Where are the break policies? The mental health support? The flexibility for different work styles? Real wellness is about supporting the whole human being, not finding out how energetic they can be at 3:15 pm.
Reclaim The Narrative (Cont.)
So if leadership starts talking about energy tracking like it’s a benefit, gently flip the script and reclaim the language. Don’t let them sell you micromanagement as mindfulness. You could even make the data work out in your favor.
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Use Data To Your Advantage
Start noticing patterns. Are you sharper in the mornings? Do you always hit a slump around 2 pm? Use that information to request schedule tweaks, project assignments, meeting times, even break times that actually align with your productive hours. Flip their surveillance into your strategy.
Create Private Counter-Rituals
One way to reclaim agency is to pair their rule with your own ritual. Every time you have to log your energy, type it, stand up, stretch, and take a sip of water. Turn their absurd demand into your own micro-break system.
Use Automated Responses
If you’re stuck filling out these logs, the trick is to make it painless. Create a handful of neutral responses you can rotate—“steady,” “focused,” “average,” etc. Copy-paste them or automate it, if you can. The less brainpower you spend on the ritual, the more you can save for actual work.
Don’t Normalize The Absurd
It is important that you say it out loud with a straight face that “Firing someone for yawning isn’t normal”. “Logging my energy every hour like I’m a sentient FitBit isn’t normal”. Just because a policy is implemented doesn’t mean it’s reasonable.
Don’t Normalize The Absurd (Cont.)
Normalizing the absurd is how bad ideas become standard practice. So don’t let this become your new baseline. Call it what it is. Laugh if you need to. And remind yourself (and your coworkers) that being tired is not a liability.
Create A Safe Venting Space
A safe venting space is much needed; whether it’s a private group chat with your most trusted coworkers or a journal. The goal isn’t to dwell in negativity; it’s to stop it from fermenting inside. When the official culture makes you feel like expressing doubt is disloyal, this step saves you.
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Watch For Gaslighting
If you've ever been told you're “overreacting” or “reading too much into it” after pointing out something obviously weird—welcome to gaslighting 101. This tactic shows up a lot in workplaces where dissent is treated as hysteria.
Watch For Gaslighting (Cont.)
Instead of engaging, they will try to discredit you. And you must NEVER fall for it. Trust your gut because if something feels off, it probably is. Being the first to notice dysfunction doesn’t make you the problem; it just means that you’re more perceptive than the rest.
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Bring In External Validation
Sometimes, the most powerful thing you can do is introduce an outside perspective into the bubble. Drop a case study in the team Slack. It subtly and ever-so-gently challenges the management and proves that their process is not the gold standard.
Don’t Let It Derail Your Work
Unfair systems have a way of trying to drag you down to their level—to make you so frustrated or distracted that your performance slips, and suddenly you become the problem. Don’t let them pull that off.
Don’t Let It Derail Your Work (Cont.)
Keep your eyes on the deliverables. You’re allowed to be irritated and excellent at the same time. So, effectively use the frustration as fuel instead of an excuse to disengage. Play the long game and focus on your personal growth.
Watch For Burnout Signals
When you’re asked to monitor your energy constantly, something weird starts to happen. You stop listening to your body and start performing it. You become hyper-aware of every yawn and even every moment your mind wanders. Then, slowly, guilt creeps in.
Watch For Burnout Signals (Cont.)
You start feeling like you’re not doing enough. That’s the burnout trap. When rest starts to feel like failure, your brain stops getting what it needs. The signs are subtle at first: cynicism, brain fog, that little voice whispering, “I used to like this job.” Listen to it.
Remember: You’re Not The Problem
Let’s close with this: you are not the problem here. You’re not wrong for wanting a workplace that doesn’t treat energy like a KPI. What you’re doing is simply setting boundaries, and that’s exactly what smart, capable people do in dysfunctional environments.
What Healthy Leadership Looks Like
Let’s not forget—good leadership exists. Somewhere. In places where managers care about outcomes and goals, not just optics. In a workplace that’s actually productive, the employees aren’t busy filling tracker sheets and faking alertness for eight hours straight.
What Healthy Leadership Looks Like (Cont.)
Healthy management respects your autonomy, and it adapts when something clearly isn’t working. If that’s not what you’re seeing in your workplace? Well, at least now you know what not to replicate when it’s your turn to lead.
What You Can Do As A Manager
If you're in a leadership role, you can actually buffer your team from some of the absurdity. You don’t have to go rogue or wage an internal revolution, but you can advocate for policies that don’t treat people like performance robots.
What You Can Do As A Manager (Cont.)
Challenge the logic of hourly logging in meetings, maybe even suggest testing more flexible methods. Your voice carries weight. Use it to humanize the process and, honestly, to keep your team from collectively burning out.
What Is The Hawthorne Effect?
Here’s the irony: the very act of monitoring can ruin the thing you’re trying to measure. And this phenomenon is called the Hawthorne effect. It’s when people change their behavior simply because they know they’re being observed.
How Does It Work In This Scenario?
Instead of honest energy reporting, employees start curating their answers. Nobody wants to look lazy, so everyone marks “focused” at 2 pm, even if they’re daydreaming about tacos, which means that the data looks neat in a spreadsheet, but says nothing about actual productivity.
It’s Okay If You’re Ready To Leave
Sometimes, the healthiest move isn’t to fix the system—it’s to walk away from it. If you’ve reached the point where even pretending to care about your “2 pm energy dip” feels like an existential crisis, it might be time to plan your exit. Your sanity will thank you.
What To Look For In A New Workplace
If nothing else, this whole mess is a lesson in spotting red flags before you’re in too deep. Does your new manager micromanage? Do they confuse “busyness” with results? Do they think control equals trust? These are the warning signs you want to catch during interviews or probation periods.
