Honestly, I think you're trying to oversimplify...

I think that this is where it gets interesting, because the oversimplification I see is in the heuristic of blaming the workplace. The complication comes in when people are changing all of the time.

I have a pretty unique view of this where I changed (mentally, physically, emotionally) in an instant. The job didn't change, I did - and it became magnitudes harder. While I still liked my job and what I did, I had to work for the money with far less certainty, worry about my family, my own health - blah blah. The workplace became for more stressful.

What people don't factor in is how they change over time, because it is like the proverbial frog in slowly boiling water. The changes not only change us physically, but also our opinions and beliefs about our experience. And this affects how we feel about our experiences, our workplaces, our relationships, ourselves and all the other aspects.

These days, very few workplaces in the western world are overly abusive, because they just won't be able to operate. However, people are increasingly demanding about what they expect from the workplace, as if the workplace should provide a full life experience. The irony is that the more the workplace provides, the more people rely on it and at some point, I can see it turning into a Brave New World kind of dystopia, where everyone is completely reliant on the workplace for all aspects of their life..