This young worker quit amid anxiety and exhaustion. Here's how the pandemic pushed some people to rethink work

During her time at Western University, Tomachi Onyewuchi learned to juggle competing responsibilities: school, work and modelling gigs. 

But despite good time management and being "very Type A," she wasn't prepared for the mental toll that accompanied the nearly 60-hour weeks of her first job out of school.

After graduating in 2019, Onyewuchi, 25, got hired at an e-commerce company and was working long hours, hoping to prove her worth to a small team of bustling employees. 

She did digital marketing for the company and her employer was dealing with high turnover, she said. As more employees left, Onyewuchi's hours kept creeping up. 

In January, she reached a breaking point. 

"I wasn't sleeping well, I was getting a lot of anxiety," she said. "I was having dreams about my teeth falling out."

As her symptoms of burnout — including fatigue and physical pain — grew too much to ignore, Onyewuchi decided to quit. 

It's a decision she knows many others can't afford to make — even though her experience is one that has become more common, as the line between work and home evaporated during the pandemic. 

Studies have shown Canadian workers have been experiencing higher levels of burnout and mental health issues over the past two years. 

A survey carried out this month by the Angus Reid Institute, in partnership with CBC, found that 29 per cent of the 2,550 respondents said their work-life balance is worse since March 2020. That's in comparison with 23 per cent who found it was better. 

"The pandemic has increased burnout across every sector of the economy," said John Trougakos, an associate professor of management at the University of Toronto. 

And while the phenomenon dubbed "the great resignation" hasn't played out in Canada at the magnitude it has in the United States, a significant percentage of Canadian workers are thinking about quitting. According to a 2021 online survey conducted by the Canadian Center for the Purpose of the Corporation, 40 per cent of the 684 respondents were considering switching jobs or careers. 

Onyewuchi says her generation is taking a different perspective on work. 

"People are more willing to advocate for their mental health," she said, and to push for corporate change.