The Great Pause: An Intentional Second Chance
From Chaos to Strategy: Why Pausing with Purpose Matters
After navigating a chaotic return to work, it is clear that simply reverting to the old normal is not a sustainable path. The pandemic highlighted profound flaws in how our economies and workplaces are structured. Burnout rates are alarmingly high and have not significantly improved even years after the crisis (WHO, 2024) as I have highlighted in my previous entries of the rewire, indicating that deeper changes are needed.
And so, in this post I will present my bold idea, an idea that is so crazy that it just might work: a structured, strategic global pause in the face of future emergencies. Rather than an improvised shutdown as experienced in 2020, a planned pause would allow society to recalibrate – This isn’t about slowing down for the sake of it—it’s about pausing with purpose. To reduce burnout. To stabilise economies. To prepare institutions and individuals for the next disruption.
Today, I am outlining the economic, social, and governance frameworks needed to make that pause not only feasible—but transformational.
Rethinking ‘Essential’: A New Social Contract for Crisis Work
A foundational step is to establish global principles for identifying essential vs. non-essential work during crises. In the COVID-19 lockdowns, societies were forced to distinguish genuinely essential services (healthcare, food supply, utilities, public safety) from work that could be put on hold. These decisions were often hasty and inconsistent across jurisdictions. Essential work must encompass activities critical to life, health, and basic well-being – not only medical care and food distribution, but also support services that maintain societal cohesion, such as mental health support, childcare for essential workers, emergency transportation, and critical infrastructure maintenance.
Critically, designating work as "essential" must come with protections and obligations. During COVID-19, essential workers – including healthcare professionals, delivery staff, and supermarket employees – bore significant burdens, often without adequate safety measures or compensation. The WHO reported that over a quarter of health workers faced anxiety, depression, or burnout (WHO, 2022). Therefore, a structured pause must include mandates for hazard pay, reduced working hours, mental health support, and guaranteed rest periods for essential personnel. In turn, non-essential work should be clearly defined as roles whose outputs can be paused, rescheduled, or transitioned to remote formats without immediate harm to society.
Figure 1.0: Essential vs. Under-Considered Policy Areas During the Pandemic
A pre-agreed international framework, potentially under WHO or the UN, could remove ambiguity during future crises. Clear classifications would reduce confusion and allow companies and individuals to prepare in advance, transforming what was a chaotic halt in 2020 into a structured societal pause.
What’s the Real Cost of Doing Nothing?
To underscore the economic rationale for a structured pause, two scenarios can be considered for the decade ahead (2025–2035):
Scenario A: Business-as-Usual
Minimal policy innovation
Continuation of outdated work structures
Burnout-driven disengagement
Estimated GDP losses > $10 trillion globally (World Economic Forum, 2019; Gallup, 2022)
Scenario B: Radical Intervention
Structured pauses with integrated mental health, UBI, and four-day workweeks
Enhanced worker engagement and productivity
Sustainable economic models
Estimated GDP gains of $8 trillion through recovery and innovation (Deloitte, 2024)
Figure 1.1: Projected Global GDP Impact: Business-as-Usual vs. Radical Intervention (2025–2035)
This comparison underscores that systemic reform is not only humane but financially advantageous. A failure to act risks economic stagnation, while forward-thinking interventions offer resilience, innovation, and improved human capital outcomes.
The Triple Investment: Wellbeing, Safety Nets, and Sustainability
A strategic pause must be accompanied by robust mental health investments. The pandemic led to a 25% increase in anxiety and depression worldwide, yet many health systems lacked capacity to respond (WHO, 2022). Globally, mental health receives less than 2% of national health budgets, despite costing the global economy over $1 trillion annually in lost productivity.
Governments must pre-invest in scalable supports: telehealth services, emergency helplines, psychological first aid, and stigma-reduction campaigns. Employers should be mandated to comply with WHO-ILO workplace mental health standards, including manager training and risk assessments. These proactive investments mean that when a pause is triggered, infrastructure is in place to allow recovery, not just avoidance of risk.
Social safety nets must be strengthened. The ILO reports that over 4 billion people worldwide lack any social protection. During the pandemic, direct transfers, wage subsidies, and emergency UBI trials prevented spikes in poverty in some countries, while others lagged behind. Establishing automatic triggers for emergency UBI during future pauses could offer a stable foundation. Evidence from RSA and global pilots shows such schemes improve economic resilience and mental well-being.
Similarly, environmental sustainability must be prioritised. The 5% drop in CO₂ emissions in 2020, while temporary, demonstrated the potential impact of large-scale behavioural shifts. Future pauses can be leveraged to retrofit infrastructure, roll out green energy transitions, and reimagine transit networks. Stimulus funds post-pause should embed environmental criteria, turning the break into a catalyst for climate action.
Proof in Practice: What Reform Already Looks Like
Several pilot programmes illustrate the potential of structural reform. Iceland's national four-day workweek pilot preserved productivity and increased well-being for half its workforce. The UK trial involving 61 firms saw increased revenues, reduced sick leave, and universal support from company leadership. Microsoft Japan’s initiative delivered a 40% boost in output. These outcomes demonstrate that reducing work hours need not compromise efficiency and can, in fact, enhance performance.
McKinsey estimates addressing burnout structurally could yield a 20% productivity uplift. Gallup places untapped global productivity potential at $8-9 trillion. This evidence builds the case for reimagining work structures through well-being-centric reform.
Figure 1.2: Return on Investment from Key Strategic Interventions
Global Alignment: SDG Wins and Governance That Works
Structured pauses align with the UN Sustainable Development Goals:
SDG 3: Better mental health care reduces non-communicable disease burden.
SDG 8: Safer work environments and inclusive economic recovery.
SDG 1 & 10: Income protection combats poverty and inequality.
SDG 13: Emissions reductions support climate action targets.
Governance must be internationally coordinated. A proposed Global Resilience Council under the UN, with participation from WHO, ILO, IMF, World Bank, and OECD, would manage pause declarations, define essential work standards, and monitor outcomes.
Figure 1.3: Integrated Governance and SDG Impact Map for a Structured Global Pause
How We’ll Know It Worked
Mental health indicators (e.g. reduced burnout)
Economic bounce-back speed and equity
Poverty and inequality data
Emissions levels and climate progress
Innovation Must Pull the Weight: What Comes Next
In future iterations of the structured global pause, the role of digital infrastructure, technological innovation, and scalable wellbeing tools will be pivotal. While this paper has focused on systemic and policy-level interventions, it is equally important to explore how online platforms, mindfulness apps, and AI-powered wellbeing tools can support individual and organisational resilience. From remote collaboration platforms that reduce commute-related emissions and stress, to digital mental health solutions offering 24/7 support, technology will be a linchpin in delivering equitable and scalable wellbeing. Furthermore, advancements in predictive analytics and wearable tech could help pre-empt burnout, enabling early interventions. These digital enablers—alongside leadership training and culture shifts—will be explored in the next phase of research and recommendations.
The Case for a Pause—Before We Break
The numbers are clear. The systems are strained. The opportunity is still here. But it won’t be for long.
A structured pause is not just a humane intervention—it’s a strategic investment in resilience, productivity, and long-term prosperity. The cost of inaction has already been tallied in burnout rates, attrition, and economic loss. The next iteration must do more than patch holes—it must reimagine the entire structure.
But policy alone won’t get us there. Innovation must do the heavy lifting—from digital mental health solutions and predictive burnout analytics to remote-enabling infrastructure that doesn’t crumble under pressure.
Tomorrow, I will dive into exactly that: what tools, technologies, and cultural shifts are required to turn this plan into reality—and what risks we face if we don’t.
References
Deloitte. (2019). Mental health and employers: The case for investment – pandemic and beyond. [online] Deloitte. Available at: https://www2.deloitte.com.
Euronews. (2024). Four-day workweek pilot shows productivity and wellbeing improvements. [online] Euronews. Available at: https://www.euronews.com.
Gallup. (2022). State of the Global Workplace Report 2022. [online] Gallup. Available at: https://www.gallup.com.
McKinsey & Company. (2022). Addressing employee burnout: The productivity opportunity. [online] McKinsey. Available at: https://www.mckinsey.com.
RSA. (2021). Universal Basic Income trials and findings. [online] Royal Society of Arts. Available at: https://www.thersa.org.
WHO. (2016). Investing in mental health: Evidence for action. [online] World Health Organization. Available at: https://www.who.int.
WHO. (2022). Protecting health and care workers’ mental health and well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic. [online] World Health Organization. Available at: https://www.who.int.
WHO. (2024). Global mental health trends and post-pandemic response data. [online] World Health Organization. Available at: https://www.who.int.
World Economic Forum. (2019). Mental health: An economic priority. [online] WEF. Available at: https://www.weforum.org.
