Why think about work any more than you have to?

If we don't, how can we expect it to change for the better?

A friend of mine is?*obsessed*?with Dolly Parton. The many images of Dolly in her home - on badges, posters, mugs, and t-shirts - is a testament to her devotion. As far as she is concerned, Dolly Parton is a gift from God that we simply aren’t worthy of. And I get it. She’s got wit, ample intelligence, a big heart, a gorgeous philanthropic streak, and a healthy dose of devilment (a quality much beloved by most Irish people). But of all Dolly’s many gifts, it is her song-writing and flair for telling stories that reveal?universal truths?that most touches my friend’s heart.

Now, I’m not as fluent in the full Dolly back catalogue as my friend, but arguably her most popular song tells a story that captured the hearts and minds of millions for a reason: it is hella relatable.?9 to 5?is essentially a story about how?work is too often bad.?And strenuous. And exploitative.

Here’s the chorus as a reminder.

She’s not the only one who touches on this theme across pop music. The Beatles sang about it on?A Hard Day’s Night. John Lennon’s?Working Class Hero?goes even further and acerbically criticises class divisions of labor. Dire Straits’?Money for Nothing?sees a hardware store worker begrudging rock stars who have it easy and get their ‘money for nothin’ and your chicks for free’ (gross sentiment, but bear with me). The Bangles’?Manic Monday?captures the Monday morning blues and that wish-it-was-still-Sunday feeling. My personal favourite is Wham!’s?Wham Rap! (Enjoy What You Do?). You might not first think of Wham! when you think of astute social commentary, but lyrics like?‘I'm a soul boy - I'm a dole boy, Take pleasure in leisure, I believe in joy!’?really capture an anti-work sentiment that has existed in pockets of society for as long as waged labor has.

This stuff matters.?Pop music and pop culture’s power partly lies in its capacity to reflect parts of ourselves back to us - shared social attitudes and cultural norms that we may not always recognise as such but still know as the kind of things that make up the conversations we have in the break room, in the supermarket, in the kitchen and in the car. And if we listen closely enough to these conversations and cultural cues, it’s apparent that something is wrong.

Work doesn’t seem to be working for a lot of us.

I think of all the truly terrible work experiences I have had in my early career - subjected to poor pay, exploitative work practices, abuses of power by more senior staff, and being made to feel that I needed to put in all of my personal resources in order to have a chance at future opportunities. The research supports the idea that?work can deplete us?and negatively impact other aspects of our life as well as personal attitudes that encompass self-confidence, self-worth, self-efficacy and finite personal resources like time, energy, and money. It is not hard to find testaments to this in newspaper articles and online posts, especially since the onset of Covid-19.

On the other hand, there is research that suggests that work, especially well-designed, truly flexible, human-centered work can really?enrich our lives. There are many stories out there of people who love what they do and feel imbued with gratitude for what it gives them. In my own life, some of the work experiences I have had in recent years have helped me to grow and develop into the person I am and have given me the resources and opportunities that have absolutely enhanced my life.

As both a concept and a reality, work is?multi-layered. There are millions of different experiences of work and therefore, millions of different ideas of what work is and should be. However, one thing is clear. Given how central work is to most people’s experience of life itself, it is vital that we interrogate the discrepancies that exist and explore?how to make work work better for everyone.