Undergraduate Senior Capstone

Pop Culture Influence on Corporate America

Society and Pop Culture and The Influence on

Corporate America and Employee Mental Health

Katherine Rochholz

Upper Iowa University

Psy 498 Senior Project

Professor Nason

October 17, 2024

Society and Pop Culture and The Influence on Corporate America

and Employee Mental Health

Society, which includes social media, has caused changes within the real world. Pop culture has affected the changes to companies and how leadership and employees interact. How has society and pop culture made corporate America change and evolve on their views when it comes to employee mental health? There is a relationship between pop culture, society, and the influence on the companies in America and the evolving stance on the employee mental health. Society and Pop culture shape the norms of our society, and not only the cultural trends. And this shipment of norms and trends is going to make an impact on the environments of the workplace and the expectations of the employees when it comes to their mental health. Society is impacted by pop culture and the ethics and beliefs of a company are impacted by society, so the conclusion is that pop culture and society are going to play a role when it comes to how companies deal with the employees and their mental health and expectations. And not being up to date on pop culture can cause issues with understanding the employee (Iannone et al, 2018).

As a company, there needs to be awareness of how pop culture affects one’s employees. In the sales department at Grainger there is a wide range of ages, from the young adults just out of school to the experienced sellers that have been with Grainger 30 years. And when it comes down to young adult development and how they go about their career choices, not understanding how pop culture influences the employee can mean trouble for a company (Iannone, 2018).

The Erikson theory of identity development has taken human life and divided the periods into eight specific periods, or stages. And this plays a role in a company’s employees. In the stages of development as a young adult is about networking and having relationships and friendships outside of the family. This stage in the Erikson theory is known as the intimacy versus isolation stage. This is critical for young adults, especially in sales, to create a solid network, and this network will give the best support for their mental health. A good part of their network will be co-workers, leadership, and their customers. A company needs to be able to make sure they have the recourses to connect and effectively communicate with all of those in the social network, for optimal development, not only for the employee but the company was well (Cherry 2021). And pop culture plays a role in this.

Teen years in the stage of the Erikson Theory is about identity versus role confusion. This is where they question who they are in life. This is going to set the stage for when they start their careers and go into the job market, and pop culture plays a role in creating this identity. This is why companies need to know how pop culture and society are influencing the identities of people, as this will play a role when it comes time for teens to enter the job market. Though teens and young adults may be for taking risks, as this is the time the prefrontal cortex is still developing, it is also the time to figure out one’s self-identity and create a self-concept. This will play a role in the self-esteem and sense of self-worth they will have as adults. This is about a time to set goals and create a path, as many companies go to high school career days knowing what is being shown to teens is going to help companies connect to the youth and recruit the best candidates (Cherry, 2021).

Pop culture will impact this development because of the role models pop culture and society offer to young adults. Pop culture always plays a role in social identity and self-concept and self-identity, as young adults see how people their age act through social media and pop-culture when people are looking, and this may cause them to create a mask to fit in and act like they believe they should act. This can destroy their self-image and cause them to try and fit into social roles that they do not fit into. Social psychology is about how people behave in society, so it should be no surprise that pop culture plays a role in the masks and images people put on to fit that role. With people in the sales industry, they must put on the mask of being constantly outgoing, they can only show the pieces of themselves that fit in the role that society and pop culture has put them in. This mask will end up hurting their development and their self-image and destroy the self-concept of the person (Huang & Yang, 2023). Companies need to be aware that this can affect future planning, the career development, and the motivation of the employee. While pop culture can be positive, with giving information about what is going on with the world, such as supply chain disruptions, to help understand their job better, it can have a negative impact on their mental health, which can in turn effect their job performance. Pop culture can promote an unrealistic and unhealthy lifestyle, such as partying with clients to help seal the deal, causing the employee to engage in risky behavior, while promoting negative stereotypes that can have an impact on the potential employees and consumers. There is also always pressure to conform to certain standards such as looks and behavior. And this can shape the development of the employee because they can give into the peer pressure to conform and lead to drug and alcohol use to deal with the pressures putting on them by society, pop culture, and peers to conform to a social expectation of their job (Lee, 2022). The young adult development stage enters to the middle adult stage which is about generativity versus stagnation.

The middle adult age in the Erikson theory is about being successful and what they have contributed to the world. Pop culture plays a role in this because it gives a view of where an adult should be at when middle aged. This is the stage about reevaluation of goals. They want to be successful; they want to be at the point in their life where they are not being affected by their job and start to focus on their physical and mental health. And companies are affected because if the company is not shown to be assisting in this stage of development, the employee will leave (Cherry, 2021).

This is why it is important to have mental health and other health benefits available to the employee. As well as assisting with work-life balance so they can do what they need to do to be mentally healthy outside the job. Those who fall into stagnation tend to be unhealthy, have issues with motivation, anxiety, and depression, and can also leave the company due to a discontentment in life. Adults are taking responsibility for all their choices, and work to share their knowledge, and continue to expand their social network in this stage, and if the company they work for are not giving the resources needed, they will choose to leave the company. The company needs to be aware that pop culture and society play a role in where their employees get a concept of where they should be in life, for example, an employee that has spent twenty years with the company may decide that due to pop culture and social media, they should cash out their retirement, retire, and travel the world. Having resources such as experts with the company that handles the employee retirement fund can help employees make financial decisions that can impact their overall mental health if they choose to retire to soon (Cherry, 2021).

Pop culture has shaped the beliefs and attuites of society, and that is because pop culture reflects society. However, when what is shown on television, like The Office, how is that going to play into our expectations as employees? Pop culture changes our views on what the norms should look like, for example, in The Office, Micheal Scott seems like an incompetent boss, except on occasions when he gets the client back (Daniels, 2005). And that plays into people’s opinions of their bosses. And that may not allow them to give their managers a chance before they are judged, based upon how social media often portrays the bosses as people who are either incompetent or bullies. If pop culture affects our fashion, our music, and our norms, it is going to affect employees and consumers, and companies are going to have to be aware what is in during pop culture (Iannone et al, 2018).

Society and pop culture play a role in influencing every aspect of life, including corporate America. This influence can affect how employee mental health is affected through the influences of pop culture and society, including social media, when it comes to the ever-evolving influence on corporate America. With technology at its peak, with pop culture going into the office, and with social media, the voice of the employee is being seen and heard. Because of this higher rate of visibility, it is causing an evolution in how corporate America runs their company and how corporations are playing a key role in the mental health of their employees. Social media has played a role in corporations changing how they view the feedback and voice of the employee, and this has started to affect benefits and polices. Pop culture has affected the expectations of employees as they enter certain fields within the workforce, and what is expected with benefits and how the company views mental health. Employees are coming into workplaces with expectations because of the pop culture they have seen throughout their lives. They have expectations of the culture, of the benefits, of the pay, and how co-workers are going to act. And these expectations play a clear role in the mental health of the employee. Pop culture is such a force of influence today in how society functions, how people see themselves, and how society sees others. Our pop culture can shape values, attitudes, and beliefs. It also affects how a company and employees can perceive inclusion and diversity in the workplace (Iannone et al, 2018).

There is a financial benefit to companies allowing themselves to be influenced by pop culture and society, because it comes down to social diversity within social media and pop culture. A company that is diverse often sees higher cash flows. The positive influences are great, however when it comes down to it there can be negatives when it comes to allowing social media and pop culture to influence a company’s core values and that impacts the mental health of the employee (Hossain & Ali, 2014).

Employees trying to conform to the changing cultures feel the need to change and put on masks to fit into the culture that is being created. They start to hide behind masks and start to have issues with their identity. Social psychology is about how people behave within society, how they show themselves to the world. So, when employees are presented with having to change their culture views of the workplace, they start to change how they show themselves to the world. They allow only parts of them to show so they can fit in with these new social groups. This is going to play a key role in the self-concept and self-image of an employee (Lee, 2022). With trying to fit in because of social media and pop culture influences, how can the employee take a step back from forgetting who they are, how can the employee work on their self-image, how can these masks that people put up come down and stop the destruction of the self-concept and self-image of the employee (Hossain & Ali, 2014).

Is this destruction of self-image the reason employees stay even when things are bad? Corporate America is hiding behind a smoke screen, and mental health and the fact there is still a taboo when it comes to mental health is a reason they can work behind the screen. Employees trying to conform to social pressures, social media images, pop culture standards, and their mental health can be destroyed as their self-image morphs into someone they no longer know, and they become burnt out. Groups within the companies have started to work on lifting the screen as mental health has become a hot button issue and burnout is talked about and how it needs to be prevented. But one thing we must do is help workers understand exactly why they stay and how corporate America can affect the metal health of the worker (Shoss et al, 2023).

When it comes to corporations, pop culture is going to shape companies, because pop culture is shaping consumer preferences, and that is going to shape the workplace culture, and it is going to shape how a company presents their brand to society. There is a reason companies pay millions for Super Bowl commercials, why they want their product seen in films, music videos, and on social media. Pop culture is a way to connect with the consumer. And connecting with the consumer builds engagement and brand loyalty, after all, the company, along with the employee, both need the masks to face society (Hossain & Ali, 2014).

Pop culture is in turn going to have an impact on the employee’s mental health. Pop culture is going to influence workplace expectations, dynamics, and diversity. Today companies are offering flexible schedules, remote positions, hybrid positions, and more mental health benefits. This has become popularized by pop culture and social media. This shift in employee expectations has caused a shift in work environments and cultures, to help improve the mental well-being of employees and raise employee satisfaction. Satisfied employees often are more highly motivated and have a better understanding of their roles (Shoss et al, 2023).

Pop culture has had a hand in sociocultural diversity in the workplace. Pop culture today promotes inclusion and diversity, and corporate America is pulling from that influence to make sure that employees are feeling included and represented within the corporation. However, with that comes the pressure to conform to trends and this can often lead to anxiety or stress among employees if they feel they must constantly adapt to changing norms. However, pop culture can foster a positive workplace culture and enhance employment engagement. But it does give a challenge to companies when anxiety and mental health have become the top concerns among employees. With pop culture comes the views of society that are brought into the public eye by today’s social media influences (Kundro et al, 2024). There is pressure to reflect the values and norms of society within the company, and with pop culture showing differences and inclusion in corporate environments, this builds up expectations from the workforce coming into the company. Some of the most popular shows are there are shows like The Office that show case a specific type of culture and the stereotypes of corporate America, this influences expectations of potential employees as well as cause culture changes with current employees, causing effects on the mental well-being of employees. They feel the need to foster the sense of belonging for those coming into the workforce, they can cause feelings of isolation or burnout among the tenured employees, which studies have shown can lead to even substance abuse problems among both groups (Woods et al, 2024).

This is where stereotypes and bias come into play. There are stereotypical portrayals in pop culture that cause unconscious bias (either for or against people of different background or cultures). Social media also enforces this type of stereotypes and bias, and this can in fact end up creating unhealthy work environments and cause substance abuse and/or anxiety in employees to help deal with the hostile work environment. This is where communication and consistency will be key. Employees want to know how the company is going to help them with stress, anxiety, and overcoming this bias. Which changes how the company trains and educates about the bias their employees may hold (Liu et al, 2023).

Social media and society play a role with disorders such as anxiety, society can even be part of the trigger for anxiety. Companies are starting to realize anxiety and burnout are going hand and hand, and though there is still a stigma against anxiety disorders, some companies are starting to discuss mental health. However, many still struggle silently to not be seen as different or unable to do their job. Yes, companies are starting programs to discuss mental health, but are they really removing the bias against mental health issues? Employees still can be made to feel shameful when they have anxiety issues, and hiding the anxiety can make the situation worse. And companies realize that people are talking about mental health, and giving mental health benefits, but is it enough to remove the bias? No. There needs to be training and education. And that is the one thing that is missing from many solutions when it comes to dealing with mental health in employees (Brykman et al, 2024).

Employee motivation is being affected as well by social media and pop culture. Employees and companies are setting standards based upon what they see in society and in the media. It is causing issues with employees being overworked, overwhelmed, and burnt out. Work can cause physical and mental strain, and not creating that work-life balance will lead to a lack of motivation in other areas and at work. Companies have started looking into an actual work life-balance. However, it is a slow-moving process, as flexible schedules are not always possible within different corporations. However, with hybrid and remote environments, motivation becomes a key topic among corporations, as they continue to see the effects of hybrid and remote environments (Shoss et al, 2024).

Connecting this real-world problem to WW Grainger sales department one can show the effect of pop culture and society on how a company looks at employee mental health and wellbeing. Grainger is a global company, however, for this example the focus will be on the Sales Department of this company. The Sales Department is broken up into three base teams, field teams, which includes Account Mangers (AM), Field Representatives (FR), and On-Site Representatives (OSR), they are collectively known as sellers. Then there is the Inside Sales Team, that has Inside Sales Associates, (ISAs), while they fall under the collective term of sellers, they are in office and take calls and call out for sales. The final team is the Support Team, this is made up of Seller Support Specialists, they are the ones that do the background work, such as making sure orders, returns, etc. are set up. As well as doing any other behind the scenes work to assist the sellers, such as cross-referencing, product research, and post-order work (Grainger Careers, 2024).

Grainger is a global industrial supply company; it provides goods and services to a wide range of customers from companies to the federal government. Grainger Sales often works with different vendors to work on solutions for the consumer. And in recent years Grainger has worked to become more active within local communities and look at how the life of the employee outside of the office is affected. Within the Sales Department there are impacts from society and pop culture. There is a main concern now for on-site and normally in office workers and how the Office mentality is affecting the employees that now are working remotely. Hybrid and remote work effects each type of employee differently, especially when the company is keeping an in-office mentality when it comes to expectations and interactions. There still very much is an office mentality when it comes to even working remotely. And it does not change how a business treats its employees. We still have the same personalities, we still have the same work ethics, the location where we do the job does not make a difference (Nurmi & Pakarinen, 2023). However, a positive with the pandemic is that Grainger has started to realize that there is an influence and affect to employee mental health and behaviors that are being driven by society and pop culture. However, it is something they are slow to implement.

Pop culture and Society causes not only customers but new employees to have expectations that cause problems with the reality of the situation. Employees and consumers have preconceived notions of sales departments. And when the expectations are not met, turnovers are high. For example, someone looking to go into sales may have the show The Office in mind, after all the show is about a paper company trying to sell paper. There are sellers in Jim and Dwight, and they may think that sales have a relaxed and close atmosphere (Daniels, 2005). However, once they are in sales, they realize that there are goals to be made each month, each quarter, each year, so that they have a paycheck. That is more high pressure, and high functioning than portrayed in television. This causes turn overrates, as society and pop culture has given unrealistic expectations. When companies are unaware of how pop culture influences the public, both their consumers and their potential employees, it can lead to disaster, and over stressed employees, turning to different ways of coping (Iannone et al, 2018).

Problem

The problem today is that social media and pop culture has played an impact on employee mental health. The connection between the Grainger sales department allows the visible influence of social media and pop culture expectations on employee mental health. There is still an in-office mentality, even though many agents are working remotely, and how does working remotely actually affect the mental health of the employee (Toscano & Zappalà, 2021). While Grainger has realized that there are many impacts to employee mental health, mental health programs are slow to implement within Grainger benefits. According to a 2024 State of Mental Health in Sales report, almost 70 percent of sales are struggling with their mental health (Koniak, 2024).

The biggest mental health issues within sales are depression and anxiety, leading to burnout. Today anxiety and depression are getting more spotlight in pop culture, so companies need to make sure that visibility leads them to take action to assist their employees with these conditions to prevent burnout. Anxiety is a state of inner turmoil or dread. There are anxious thoughts and beliefs that can lead to physical symptoms such as repaid heartbeat, dizziness, and shortness of breath of breath. For example, if a leader does not take anxiety seriously, they can trigger a panic attack and raise the anxiety of their employee by focusing on the negatives of their job performance bringing about dread that they may be let go from their job if they are not perfect. Anxiety can affect job performance, and the relationship employees have with each other and management. Depression can cause changes in behavior, an employee may show a drop in metrics, they can be feeling worthless or stuck, and having trouble concentrating at work. Knowing those symptoms, and with pop culture and society starting to work against the taboo, can help leadership talk with their employees to offer assistance and help, promoting mental health benefits the company offers to employees. Taking just these steps can help prevent burn-out and turnover for the company. Good mental health of the employee brings positive results for a company (Dylan, 2021).

Pop culture and society has caused customer and employee expectations, and often there is a disconnect between what is shown in social media and pop culture versus the reality of a sales department. This causes anxiety, loss of self-identity, depression, and even unhealthy coping mechanisms that can lead to addiction. This often leads to burnout and high turnover rates for the company. Morality in the business world is paper thin and ethics are contingent on those in charge, how does society and pop culture affect those in charge? For example, in pop culture, in the show The Office (US), we see the morality of corporate America is paper thin and evolving. And ethics of a company is dependent on those in the senior management seats all the way to the CEO. Intentions may be good, however, the issue with trying to do what is right, is a long, windy road that can have many pitfalls and failures and only one right outcome at the end. If all the players make it to the end. Sometimes the players take the easy and morally ambiguous way out of the long and windy path. Life is not black and white. And neither is the psychology and morals of a person. And because of that corporate America and the employee mental health becomes a grey area of arguments and ideas (Boinodiris, 2019). Can the corporate world get back on that winding path to do the right thing when it comes to the mental health of employees? Or will companies continue to see employees acting like Stanley did when there was a bat in the office and saying Goooodbye (Daniels, 2005)! There needs to be a solution to help assist employees with mental health and help prevent burnout, anxiety, depression, and even a loss of self-identity in a world of sales and profits.

Much like an individual, a company is prone to classic conditioning. It is part of our learning and retention of memory, we are classically conditioned to act certain ways, based upon social norms. Just like an individual, a company is set up to react to both conditioned and unconditioned stimulus. Most of the time a conditioned response is the result of a planned for conditioned stimulus, for example, when a hurricane hits the coast, Grainger sellers already have a play book to respond to the stimulus. This has become a conditioned response over time due to a natural stimulus. However, this playbook puts a lot of pressure on the support staff, and the conditioned response of the support staff is often a desensitization of the impact of the disaster, making them numb to the conditioned stimulus. This numbing can influence the mental health of the employee and cause a loss of a piece of their identity, depression, and anxiety. That all can turn around and cause them to leave the job to avoid desensitization (Rehman et al, 2023).

But not only do the employees of a company get conditioned, but pop culture and society have conditioned companies to act a certain way. For example, the customer is always right, has trained customers to take the word of the customer over the employee. Often leading to stress, anxiety, and burn out for employees who are trying to reach the impossible expectations of consumers due to stereotypes and portrayals of the industry in pop culture. Classic conditioning is everywhere in life, and individuals and companies may not even realize when they are being conditioned, their unconditioned responses to stimulus over time becoming conditioned responses to conditioned stimulus (Rehamn et al, 2023)

Often, those in sales are extroverts, and in pop culture they are shown to be thrill-seeking and adrenaline junkies. Sellers must earn their money, and each day sellers are trying to close deals, for each yes, there are a lot more nos. There is a lot of anxiety when it comes to sales, and one must create a mask and avoid showing emotions, because emotions can cost the sale. This can cause a loss of self-identity. And sometimes the coping mechanisms can be unhealthy when suppressing those emotions, such as drug use and alcohol, leading to substance abuse. However, to keep on top of the sales team and make goals, there is often an addiction to caffeine. Caffeine has a lot of effects on the human body and brain, and too much can help lead to that burn out (Bennett & Lehman, 2001).

Stimulants influence the body. And in sales, caffeine is king. There are amphetamines and caffeine, that many can become dependent upon in sales. But they can reduce appetite, and thus cause weight loss, overuse can cause hallucinations, there can be nerve damage, and a host of damage to the internal organs. While caffeine and amphetamines can increase attention, alertness, and decrease fatigue. High doses or prolonged use can cause a psychotic-like state, not unlike schizophrenia, and if continued to be abused to extreme, stimulants can cause death (Kuhn et al, 2019). Over twenty percent of people state they drink coffee every day, and of those almost all adults drink more than one cup of coffee, with thirteen percent drinking six or more cups (Buchholz, 2019). According to a study from the Institute of Medicine in Washington, DC, caffeine consumption is one of the top addictions, with even forty-three percent of children under five consuming caffeine. Once over the age of twenty-five, almost ninety percent state they are addicted to caffeine. This can lead to many different health issues, from insomnia, to depression, to anxiety, because they are employees who are not prioritizing their health (AddictionHelp.com, 2023).

Corporate America is hiding behind a smoke screen, and the mental health and psychology of the workforce are the reasons they can work behind the screen. And that same psychology can show us why employees finally leave when they have had enough, and their mental health has been destroyed and they are burnt out. So, how can companies solve the issue at hand with social media, society, and pop culture influencing customer and employee expectations and the effect that this influence has on employee mental health.

Solution One

When it comes to helping with the issue of employee health in an ever-evolving world, the first thing would be to set up a comprehensive employee assistance program. This program would be able to offer counseling services. This allows for professional support for employees that are dealing with personal or work-related issues, that can have an impact to their mental health. This program can help conduct mental health awareness and education sessions, allowing the reduction of stigma against those who need help with their mental health. This program can also help with early intervention and build a supportive workplace culture. This program can help with helping employees build a true work-life balance, that can help manage stress, prevent burnout, and high turnovers. This also allows employees to put their own sense of self and mental well-being as a priority (Roberge et al, 2024).

When it comes to building and maintaining a positive workplace culture, it will create an environment that allows employees to reach their full potential and not lose themselves to burnout, loss of self-identity, depression, and other mental health issues that can come from toxic work environments. There needs to be communication, open and honest communication. There needs to be examples among leadership that encourages individuality and allows people to express themselves, especially when it comes to sales within Grainger (Roberge et al, 2024).

The Grainger Sales department is divided among those in the field and those in the offices. And when it comes to sales, one can lose their sense of identity as they start to put the company image above their own well-being, and the company needs to be able to be able to encourage the self-identity of the employee. This is where one can look at the outside company that Grainger has already partnered with, looking at the feedback that it is inconsistent with services or often unavailable, as their hours are the same as many working hours. This allows Grainger to go back and look at a better solution, and perhaps create an in-house department and program to assist with the sales representatives, as stress to sell starts to weight down upon them. As many salespeople leave, causing a high turnover, because of sales expectations, they are field representatives or inside representatives. Grainger has done well with creating a sales support department, that helps with the back-end work and taking some of what sales must do on a customer service front, decreasing the workload and stress, but the stress now has been put on another part of the department, as they have inconsistent standard work (Kundro et al, 2024).

This is where the focus of the company can be moved to an equal view of the customer and the employee. This is where the employee assistance program can assist Grainger. They can help the sellers work towards a true-work life balance. Setting up programs to assist with days off, today we have many sellers that will contact their support department when they are on vacation, and even some have called in from key events in their lives, to assist a customer because there is no true back up with days off. So, setting up backups and a shared folder with the backup seller to assist customers when time off needs to happen, will be key to help with burnout and depression. This can also include where those in sales can switch their days off, make up hours, or even switch hours on specific days, so they are not losing out on hours of pay, but instead adjusting work to their life schedules (Shoss et al, 2023).

This also goes with those working in-office, which is mostly hybrid or fully remote. Having done survey research on hybrid and remote work and employee mental health, there is a finding that remote work is generally positive for those who work behind the scenes or in-office sales. However, there is some variance as people are social creatures, and quality of life can be affected by being sole remote in their job. In the Grainger sales department, the support team from Iowa has been given no choice when working from home. This has caused drops in metrics, an increase in depression and stress. Depending on the person, for some it is about being distracted at the home office, for others it allows them to focus because there are not colleagues wanting to speak or ask for assistance around them (Toscano and Zappalà, 2021).

The study performed though using survey style research, in 2023 with 149 agents within the sales department, found that working remotely does positively affect the mood of the agent. There were T-tests, that showed there was a difference in onsite mood averages and remote mood averages. Remote agents had a mean mood score of 5.98, the variance was 104.91, and the standard deviation was 10.24. With on-site agents, the mean mood score was 5.39, the variance was 149.37, and the standard deviation is 1.50..

Mean (Remote) = 5.98

Mean (On Site) = 5.37

Subtract the two means = 5.98 -5.37 = .61

Divide the Remote VARIANCE by N = .02

Divide the Onsite VARIANCE by N = .03

Add these two scores together = __.05____ – >take the square root of this number = __.22__(**)

Divide MEAN DIFFERENCE* by the number above(**) – ___2.77_____ – T-Value

The values found in the observational study show there is a positive effect on the mood of being a remote agent, so, because of this, allowing the sales team to work from home or in a hybrid environment may be able to help with the work-life balance, which can help prevent issues with the employee mental health, such as addiction, burn-out, or depression ((Toscano and Zappalà, 2021).

Companies and employees alike need motivation to achieve goals. When they look at society and pop culture, they see individuals and companies at different levels achieving different goals and can push their employees to make the same goals in the same way and time frame. However, motivation can be destroyed by the employee if there are not sufficient benefits to achieving the task, such as pay, praise, and reinforcement. Many times, in the sales department, there are umbrella goals, that can seem overwhelming. This can cause external factors decreasing motivation, such as pay, job security, relationships with leadership, the workplace culture, and even the benefits. The company oversees these external factors and makes sure that the culture is promoting motivation with their employees. However, with pop culture showing different types of relationships with management, employees can come in with expectations that do not meet reality. And with companies being influenced by social media and pop culture on what they should be achieving, this can cause undue pressure on the employee.

Companies and employees alike can work to avoid the lack of motivation by breaking tasks into smaller steps, this allows employees to not be overwhelmed and motivated to finish each step or task, this helps the employee with their goals for a work-life balance. And helps the company keeping their employees motivate. Allow employees to take time off as needed, creating routines, making sure that employees have the resources they need and making sure employees have the support they need for leadership to power through any internal influences against motivation such as negativity and doubt, are key to keeping the employee motivated (Palmquist, 2023).

While employees may have an internal influence that cause issues with motivation, companies can help with that by offering support from leadership, which includes not only giving negative feedback but making sure that leaders are building self-esteem, praising what is being done well, and even giving rewards for achievements and team rewards when goals are made. When there are incentives and rewards, that helps with building motivation to help the employees and the company achieve their goals (Palmquist, 2023

Also, the sales department should set realistic expectations when it comes to different departments within the sales department. Within the sales department there is a support section, employees are often pushed to make unrealistic goals, to match customer relation departments, though the work is often more complex and detailed. The steps to help solve issues with turnover, burnout, anxiety, and depression is to finally put the support team fully under sales and remove them from the expectations of the center they are based out of, which is often the customer relations central locations. This would involve making sure that correct analysis is done within the department, what work should be done by the department, and of course doing check-ins with senior management to get employee feedback to help prevent mental health issues. Often when expectations are greater than they should be, employees are affected by anxiety, depression, and burnout trying to meet these expectations, and when they fail, depression can lead to addiction or unhealthy coping strategies (Shoss et al, 2023).

With this they would work on the guidelines to prevent only one part of the sales department from doing all the background work, leveraging other departments within the company, rather than expecting one department to do the work of four or five departments. For example, many times to win business from competitors, the sales teams need to cross reference the competitors catalog to parts in the Grainger catalog, right now this is handled by the sales team, however, there are teams within Grainger that have this information actually readily available, and can be done within a few hours, versus the few days it takes the support team in the sales department (Grainger Careers, 2024).

With the leveraging of other resources, having backups for follow-up work would be a key set up, as anxiety is often on the employees end as they are expected to work this project or task, but they are doing so without all the information, because the agent that started the project or task and/or manger or the actual field agent are not available. Having automatic back-ups and steps in standard work to attach all that has already been done will help prevent the anxiety of the next agent who is tasked with the work. Both steps help with the prevention of burnout, anxiety, depression, and even unhealthy coping strategies (Roberge et al, 2024).

The company would also start to focus on the retention of employees, using support training for leadership, where there should be empathy and understanding. This can cut down on the incidents of upper management putting blame on the employees, focusing only on the negative aspect of metrics, or even the number of times senior management has told the workers they are not really needed within the company. This has caused major issues with the employees, who understand change is part of the company strategy, however, in one section of the sales team, a group was having their jobs moved to another center and they were being combined with another team. Senior management told them they were not really needed and were lucky to even have a job. This caused many to leave the company, many of them tenured, and a lot of expense put in their training. Those that stay can often have increased anxiety, unhealthy coping mechanisms, and depression, as they are feeling unvalued and unseen (Roberge et al, 2024).

Grainger sales can also start to use social media and the societal opinion on sales to show the realities of the job. Social media and pop culture shows sales structured in ways that it is not, but loosely. For example, The Office shows a regional manager that does little to no work, while the employees work mostly in the office calling customers and potential customers, as well as going to meetings with potential customers to sell the product. And while that may be mostly correct, within major companies the work is often much more divided. While managers, district and inside, do not often do the work of the sellers, they are often doing the back-end reports, gaining resources, dividing up territories, and assisting their sellers. The company can start to counter the view of sales departments in pop culture, by leveraging social media and showing the truth behind the scenes. Showing the inside sales department and how they reach out to customers, showing the field agents and how they connect with customers, and showing the back-end support departments of the sales teams. Showing the actual culture, and not just stereotypes of a sales team (Brain, 2019).

The company would also start to leverage social media to educate the customer on self-service, taking some of the work off the sales department, for example how to pull up order histories, placing online orders through e-commerce systems, and even paying invoices. This allows some of the clerical work to be taken off the sales team to prevent anxiety and burnout. This would all include the revamping of the social media team within the company, which is at this point almost non-existent within the marketing department (Brain, 2024).

In conclusion, there is a lot of focus shifting from just the outside customer but internally to the employees. There is leveraging of social media to counter the effects of pop culture stereotypes, allowing new and potential employees to have a realistic view of a sales team.

Solution Two

Another route to go for a solution to help prevent loss of self-identity, depression, anxiety, burnout, and even potential addiction and unhealthy coping mechanisms is to work on changing the whole culture of the department. As with most businesses, the sales department is very metric and profit oriented. However, the company can move from not only be about the profit, but the experience. This culture change would be a multi-step process. (Koniak 2024).

There would be a creation of clear policies for remote work, Grainger had some guidelines set-up, however, post-covid, these polices ended up being stopped to allow anybody who wanted to work from home, to work from home, the only guideline is to have certain internet speeds. This would also allow for flexibility regarding hours. Today, there are only flexibility in hours during the hours of six in the morning and seven in the evening. However, many times when there are emails that are hours past due, they allow the support team to work at times that work from them, including overnight. This flexibility will allow a more balanced work-life balance, reducing depression, anxiety, and burnout (Toscano and Zappalà, 2021).

Grainger can also start to invest further in mental health resources, expanding the access to counseling services, adding mental health days into benefit packages, and implementing stress management workshops. Grainger can provide training to management to allow regular feedback sessions, open communication, employee recognition and rewards, and team-building activities. All this can help change a culture from purely profit oriented to a mix between profit and experience, as when employees are happy, they are able to assist and connect with the customers better, allowing a better customer experience (Roberge et al, 2024).

Employees coming in expect the environments to be like what is shown on social media and in pop culture, which often shows a very open and relaxed work environment. Grainger can change some polices, allowing a more open culture as shown in pop culture that allows more individuality versus conformity. Today there are policies that disallow visible tattoos and any hair color that is not a natural hair color. With pop culture, there is an increase in hair colors and tattoos that are shown, and employees expect to be able to show their individuality. By allowing minor changes to the culture, it can help match some of the expectations of the employee to be able to explore their own self-identity and not lose it to the job (Brain, 2019).

In conclusion, the second option continues the slow path of evolving when it comes to employee mental health. However, some minor changes, such as moving towards experience versus solely profits, and relaxing some polices to allow self-identity can help meet the expectations given to employees from social media and pop culture.

As society and pop culture evolve, the company must evolve as well. It makes sense that when one looks at the two proposed solutions, taking the time to implement proposed solution one not only helps the issue of the loss of self-identity, but help also prevent substance abuse, helps prevent or treat mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, or burnout, it helps stop the misconceptions that pop culture, and society has given the public. To implement, Grainger would first start to leverage social media and revamp their social media team. They would start posting employees in their actual jobs and show what a typical day is for different Grainger employees. They would then look at shifting the focus to only the customer and having an equal focus on customer and employee. This would include research into how to best create a true work-life balance, offering different shifts, making up hours, and having realistic expectations as the consumer expectations change. Expectations of having back-ups for those in the Sales have access to leadership or not expected to work on their days off would be a big step in creating work-life balance. This would include offering more than one source for employees that may need assistance with mental health. Having an outside company to partner with is well and good, however when they are unavailable and inconsistent, that negates the reason to have the partnership. So, looking at different programs that have locations near the centers and branches can help employees gain the help they need.

All the above as well as working on a distribution of work will help prevent burnout. Right now, the support team of sales handles all the background work and prework for all the sellers across the country. This is a small team of less than one hundred and fifty people. Having senior management work to help push back on what sellers and consumers can do to self-service, as well as allowing the team to leverage other departments for assistance, even if that may extend the current turn around expectation of four hours from seller contacting support to full solution, it would help prevent the support team, which has the highest turnover, from burning out and turning to unhealthy coping methods. This will allow Grainger to start working on retaining their employees, though pay will go a big way to help keep employees, the focus should be on support training for leadership, and this will help prevent leadership putting the blame on employees for any negative aspects of the metrics. Or even having leadership telling employees they are lucky they even have jobs, and the company does not need them.

With pop culture and society so connected to everyday life, it is going to affect companies across America and the expectations that come from employees regarding their mental wellbeing. Companies and the workplace culture evolve with society, and society evolves with the use of social media and pop culture. With the heightened awareness of mental health, the desire to remove the stigma of talking about mental health within pop culture, companies need to be prepared for employees to have those expectations of assistance. Today in pop culture one sees fandoms rise to help remove the stigma of talking about mental health, for example the Supernatural fandom has created You Are Not Alone campaigns, GISH to help promote community togetherness and remove the stigma of mental health, and a host of other campaigns to support mental health. And companies need to notice that they need to know what is going on in pop culture so they can help shift the company strategies to include providing the right support for employees and their mental health. Companies want employees that stay, they want employees that have great productivity and job satisfaction, and thanks to pop culture and society, that means companies need to help change their views on mental health to promote positive workplace culture.

In conclusion, today pop culture gives the world a view that may not be exactly what is happening in the workplace culture. Pop culture and society are huge influences on life. And when people go into their job, they can suffer from having to hide their self-identity, losing it to expectations, suffer from unhealth coping methods including substance abuse. And can develop anxiety, depression, and become burnt out from expectations. This can affect their ability to do their job, to learn, and to connect with people. Companies, like Grainger, need to start making aggressive changes, or they will continue to see their employees go Goooodbye like Stanley did in The Office, though that may have been because of a bat, the concept is the same. He walked out, and so will employees when they realize, thanks to society and pop culture, that their mental well-being is more important than a paycheck from a company that does not support them.

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