Reflections on Work

I just read a news report from the reputable Conference Board in NY on Yahoo.

The headline was the decline of job satisfaction in America from a high 70% in 1970 to a low of 49% in 2009. Only 51% of the respondents found their job interesting! The degree of dissatisfaction with those under 25 years old was the highest -- 64%. A major source of dissatisfaction was the immediate supervisor (51%). But not all ills can be laid at the supervisor's feet. The article included several others issues, such as the lack of opportunities for our younger workers. As baby boomers retire, their interesting work often retires too.

These statistics are an early warning signal that American innovation, productivity, and competitiveness are at great risk.

We carry many misconceptions about work, its nature, and its role in our lives. I, for one, have been taught that work is a natural activity of man, just like play is. From early childhood I was encouraged to work. My parents gave me chores and tasks to do, Teachers gave me assignments to complete. Employers offered me jobs to perform. I received rewards for being a good worker and reprimands when I was not. I earned degrees, promotions, pay increases by working harder and smarter.

For some reason we classify work in two categories: paid and non-paid. We tend to consider paid work as real work. We consider chores, studies, pro-bono activities as less.

Example, I retired in July 2009. Colleagues and friends ask me how I like non-working or how I spend my leisure time since now I do not have anything to do. Well, I did retire in July but I did not stop working. I still work and probably will do so for years to come. For most of the work that I do, I do not receive a stipend, a paycheck, but I still do it because it is important for me to do it and because I enjoy doing it. I am remodeling my current home. I am volunteering on several church projects. I am helping my wife and daughter with their projects. I provide advice to four firms. I am busier now than I was before I retired. I pay my bills from income I generate from my investments and from pension plans I participated in.

Most people see retirement as an ending. This is fallacious and misleading. Retirement is a new beginning! You can design and a different way of living, of allocating your time and resources. If you have provided adequately from a financial point of view, you are now able to pursue your hobbies, to be of service to others, to enjoy your family. I do not have to do things that I do not want to do, go places that I do not want to see, and be with folks with whom I do not enjoy being. Retirement is a time of liberation, as Dr. Deepak Chopra suggests "awaken from the hypnosis of social conditioning."

Back to the work topic. Happiness is doing what you love and loving what you do. This is the sweet spot everybody talks about. All work is noble! It does not matter whether it is manual or intellectual, spiritual or physical. As a society we all need to do our part, whatever it might be.

In earlier times, work was closely associated with toil, sweat of the brow, with physical fatigue. Some religions may even see work as punishment from God for the original sin. People were born into poverty and died in it. People were born in a class and they were prisoners of it. The word labor (Latin for work) connotes physical and debilitating effort. We have ministries of labor rather than ministries of work. A rather curious footnote! But in are in the 21st century, surely we have more possibilities.

We promote many human rights such education, health care, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, etc. I would like to add the opportunity to work, to have a job, as a human right. it might not be the job we want, but it can still be a challenging and rewarding one. Work enhances our self worth, it can provide a way to escape from poverty, to overcome class, to minimize race or ethnic or origin barriers.

In the 1970's there was a movement in the US to enrich or enlarge work. Like the many fads that have traveled through our work place, we have forgotten that one of the fundamental jobs of management is to improve the quality of our work lives. This responsibility extends to providing better job designs, greater opportunities for learning, and more ways to become valuable.

Sure, there might be a few jobs that cannot be enriched or enlarged, but most jobs are amenable to more responsibility or more variety. We can design jobs that fit people's needs rather than just fitting people to technical needs.

I challenge us to get back to the basics of good management and not be seduced by the allures of the magic bullets or gimmicks. There is no one best way, but some ways are surely more effective than others, more humane, more appropriate. The next generations' depend on our response.

Your views?