What’s wrong with Work?

Happy Labour Day. In 1840 Samuel Parnell, a carpenter from Wellington, won the right to an 8 hour work day. New Zealand was one of the first countries in the world to grant this right. This was a wonderful achievement given that as a result of the Industrial Revolution human labour had been gradually demeaned to mere economic units.

But some nearly 200 years later as we all rest from our labours I have been thinking;?why has work become a dirty word? Especially the type of work that most of us do for much of our lives; the paid (or unpaid) work that fills our Monday to Friday. At what point, did work become something that we should avoid or seek to remove in its entirety? In our modern age the pinnacle of the successful life is getting to a stage where you no longer have to work; the holy grail of ”passive income”, “retirement” or the “1 day work week”. Successful people don’t work, and unsuccessful people have to work. The four day work week is meant to make us happier, more productive and enable us to be our best selves. The underlying message: work is bad for us and therefore needs to be gradually reduced or removed.

The Industrial Revolution and the mechanisation of labour has done a lot to destroy the inherent goodness in the perspiration of our brow, and the physical and mental exertion that is work. There is indeed work in many contexts that is meaningless, demeaning, and destructive.? In fact there is work that is purely extractive and takes the form of slavery. And there are working conditions that exist today that is demeaning of human dignity. But for the vast majority of us, that is not the case, especially here in New Zealand.

I think we are being peddled a false dream. The race to retirement, the freedom from work, and the 1 day work week will not make us more happy, more redeemed, or more fulfilled. It is a false promise, and if they are honest, those that achieve it will tell you this. In fact most psychological studies conclude that retirement is associated with lower life satisfaction, depression, and increased loneliness. Before the advent of the Industrial Revolution, there was no such thing as retirement. And even in the early part of the 20th century retirement was often not the end of work. Commitment to ones extended family, local community or nation meant that work through volunteering was what occupied a large portion of an individuals time during their paid working lives, and then more significantly when paid work stopped. Work in some form, gradually adjusting for our reducing physical and mental capacities, carried on right until our death. However, what we are seeing today is that despite a rapid increase in post retirement wealth for many, and a longer life span, there is a rapid decline in volunteering in New Zealand, correlated with a continued decline in happiness and life satisfaction measures. Now, one thing does not necessarily beget the other, but the view that any activity which involves some level of sustained effort (either paid or not), and which may not always be pleasurable is bad for us is simply untrue.

We need to change how we think about work. We need to recognise that we obtain in a large part our sense of purpose, fulfillment, community, and satisfaction in life through our work; the tilling of the earth, the preservation and stewarding of its resources, and the serving of our fellow human being to support their survival and enable their flourishing. We certainly need to think more redemptively about the type of work we do, the way we do it, and the reason why we do it. But there is always going to be an element of work that is going to be mundane, monotonous, and strenuous. And while for some their bodies and minds can not sustain the type and pace of work they do, and for others there is work that is truly mind numbing, soul destroying, and demoralizing that should be minimised. However, rather than categorising all work as bad, we need to think about and start from the basis that work is inherently a good pursuit and necessary for us to flourish as human beings. The objective is not to remove work, but redeem it.