A few days ago, I was walking to my office when I passed by two women hugging. Then I overhear the one say to the other “have a good day at WORK.”
The emphasis was on work, the tone was negative.
Now I don’t presume to understand their relationship. And perhaps each of these women truly dislike their jobs or find no pleasure or purpose in what they do.
Putting aside these two women, I’ve noticed that there is a common anti-work sentiment.
I think Labor Day is the perfect time to reflect on this.
Labor Day
Labor Day was established to celebrate the contributions of the American Labor Movement. Essentially, we are celebrating all that has been accomplished in this country as a result of hard working people.
On this one day, we are supposed to be celebrating work…and we do this by taking off of work, having a BBQ and getting drunk.
But every other day tells a different story.
A Pervasive Sentiment
Instead of celebrating our jobs and finding meaning, purpose and joy, we are increasingly disparaging in our description of the modern work day. We “work for the weekend,” we “get through the day.” We have strong feelings about “Mundays,” “hump days” and the fantastic, much awaited “Friday!”
What happened?
I think three things happened. Each are interrelated in our collective anti-work sentiment.
1. The paradox and illusion of choice
If you haven’t watched Barry Schwartz’s TEDTalk on the Paradox of Choice, I encourage you to watch it.
Essentially, we have too many options now to accept what we have, if we are not satisfied with what we have. No matter what job we have, there are countless other options. So we either get “buyer’s remorse” or anxious about new possibilities all around us.
- We could go back to school.
- We could browse a job board and find a new company in a new industry.
- We could finally start that side business online doing that thing we really love.
And beyond that, these options may be more difficult to take advantage of than we’d like. Each of those options requires sacrifice, time, effort and in some cases money…and we’ve got bills to pay in the meantime. Job mobility seems like an option, but the option can be very scary to people living paycheck to paycheck. Many people cannot afford to take a without a safety net…so they stay put.
Speaking of living paycheck to paycheck.
2. The general welfare of the average worker has diminished
The average person in this country is struggling. We are carrying more debt than ever before.
One could argue that people are buying too many things that they don’t need, and there is some merit to that argument, however in a world where the upper 1% hold nearly 40% of all the nation’s wealth, I think it’s a shame that the average person is being told to avoid going out to eat, stop buying new clothes, or get rid of their smartphone. This also doesn’t help the economy much as there is only so much the upper 1% can buy before they have everything. Wages have not kept up with inflation or changing social norms.
Yes, the nation’s GDP has grown, and yes, the wealthiest Americans are better off than ever before, but the average worker is likely carrying some debt and struggling to get by in some way or another.
So we are often going to work, not as a means of stashing away some money for retirement, but instead to pay off our existing debts. Many of us no longer go to work to maintain, or get ahead, but instead to keep up, we are essentially slaves to the system. The cost of living is too high to stop feeding the machine.
This changes our relationship to work. Which leads to the third factor…
3. Collectively, we’ve stopped dreaming
We, as a society, cannot think creatively while we are enslaved to the system. If it is scary or potentially economically impossible to take a leap into a new path, we cease to think like that, and instead resign ourselves to the daily grind.
A small group of people we call “entrepreneurs” take those leaps. And you know what…most FAIL.
A small select few get it right, and an even smaller select few are wildly successful.
Some that fall, get back up and try again. Others go find a job, and never recapture the dream ever again.
Getting Back to Work
I don’t know how we fix this, I just know things are broken.
So yes, let’s celebrate today, and let’s extol the virtues of a hard day’s work, but let’s also actively work to improve this country so more people can move into careers that they love without risking everything to do it.
Happy Labor Day. And now, I’m off the clock.