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Perspectives on
Working Life
Perspectives on
Working Life
By

Matthew Etherington
Perspectives on Working Life

By Matthew Etherington

This book first published 2021

Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Lady Stephenson Library, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 2PA, UK

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Copyright © 2021 by Matthew Etherington

All rights for this book reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without
the prior permission of the copyright owner.

ISBN (10): 1-5275-6368-5

ISBN (13): 978-1-5275-6368-1
“Opportunity is missed by most people because it comes dressed
in overalls and looks like work”
—Thomas Edison
 CONTENTS

Preface: Work in a Season of COVID-19......................................... ix

Reframing Workplaces ................................................................. x
The Importance of Work .......................................................... xiv

Chapter 1 .............................................................................................. 1
Introduction to Work and Beliefs
Work Can Kill You: Get off the Treadmill ............................... 15
Joy, Happiness and Social Capital in the Workplace ............. 19
You Are What You Do ................................................................ 24
Working on the Railroad ............................................................ 28

Chapter 2 ............................................................................................ 33
A Brief History of Work
Ancient Greece and Rome .......................................................... 36
The Middle Ages and Work....................................................... 40
The Industrial Era, Scientific Management and the Division
of Labour ................................................................................. 44
The Gains and the Losses ........................................................... 54
Changes at Work ......................................................................... 59
Work as Laborer and Artist ....................................................... 70

Chapter 3 ............................................................................................ 76
What is Work?
The Protestant Work Ethic (PWE)............................................. 85
Work and the American Dream ................................................ 90

Chapter 4 ............................................................................................ 94
Theories and Studies about Work
viii Contents

Chapter 5 .......................................................................................... 109

A Perspectival Approach to Work
Worldview.................................................................................. 114

Chapter 6 .......................................................................................... 119

Religion and Work
Religious Accommodation in the Workplace: Can We
Strike a Balance? ................................................................... 128
Work and the Islamic Religion: A Single Case Study .......... 135
Work and the Judeo-Christian Religion: A Single Case
Study ...................................................................................... 140

Chapter 7 .......................................................................................... 146

Cultural Perspectives of Work
Asian Cultures ........................................................................... 153
Indigenous Worldview and Work .......................................... 161

Chapter 8 .......................................................................................... 171

Celebrating Perspectives of Work
Questions for Further Discussion ........................................... 172

Bibliography .................................................................................... 173

 PREFACE

WORK IN A SEASON OF COVID-19

The job, as it were, is his property: as long as he can stand and see, he
must hold it against all comers because in losing hold, he loses his claim
upon the world’s supplies of the necessaries of life.
—Change in the Village, George Bourne, 1912, 87.

Our work means a lot to us, even for those who do not enjoy the
toil. Through our work, we reveal what kind of human beings we
are and are prepared to be. Sometimes our work is a stepping-
stone to something else, and a means to an end. Other times, we
commit our whole lives to it, from the ‘cradle to the grave.’

This book investigates work from various worldviews and

viewpoints, comprising cultural, religious, and Indigenous. Our
work lives can be understood in more profound ways,
enlightened by values, knowledge, and realities different from
our own. Moving closer to understanding different ways of
knowing about work will yield new insights and possibilities
about the intersection of identities and labor.

Work comes in many forms, and people do their job with

different inspirations. So this book is not intended to advise how
work should be practiced or best understood; that is for the reader
to resolve. Instead, the goal is to scrutinize how people experience
and live out their working lives. Why is this important?

Western culture has experienced significant shifts in work

practice since the European Enlightenment of the 17th and 18th
centuries. The Industrial Revolution radically transformed the
nature of work and family life. Rather than work at home on the
x Preface

land, family members were required to leave home and go to

work. They experienced long periods of travel time from family
and community. Although many jobs today permit people to
work from home, the Industrial Revolution's effects still prevail.
In normal circumstances, most of us do not work from home.

Similarly, how we are expected to work says something about our

humanness or perceived humanness. Prisoners at Auschwitz, a
Nazi concentration camp that operated between 1940 and 1945,
were required to walk under an iron gate with a sign that read
“Arbeit macht frei,” which in German means, “work sets you
free.” It was a cruel twist of the phrase. The treatment accorded
to these workers depended on their classification in a Nazi racial
hierarchy (Roth, 1980, 79). Jews fared worst. If they were allowed
to live at all, Roth notes, theirs was the most strenuous and
dangerous work. The treatment received was starvation diets, the
virtual absence of health and death (Roth, 1980, 80). In the words
of the 17th-century philosopher Thomas Hobbes, human life
became nasty, brutish, and short (Jonas, 1996, 95).

Reframing Workplaces
There is no doubt that people can endure dramatic work changes
and in rapid time. In 2020, in the space of a few days, the Covid-
19 pandemic left offices and small businesses around the world
empty. As I am writing this book, the world is in the “middle” of
the virus, and predicting when it will end is near impossible.
When the number of people with the virus began to surge,
governments and politicians worldwide encouraged people to
self-isolate, stay at home, and work. Work became “essential”
and “non-essential.” “Social-distancing,” which was essentially a
non-word, now became a moral imperative. The Government of
the United Kingdom has recently launched a social distancing
device for the workplace. These are gadgets worn around the
neck that emit a sound or vibrate to keep people two meters
apart.
 Perspectives on Working Life xi

“Essential work” meant services that would endanger the life,

health, or personal safety of the whole or part of the population if
interrupted. “Non-essential” services included services not
providing food supplies, health, financial provision, or utilities
and, when not accessible to the public, would not affect life,
health, or personal safety. Airline flights stopped, restaurant
dining forbidden, empty market shelves in stores became the
norm, while millions of people self-quarantined at home.

Employers worked flexible working hours, and it became

mandatory for non-essential workers to work from home. The
cancellation of face-to-face work events and gatherings occurred;
others adapted to video conferencing. “Zooming” became a new
reality for the workplace.

The closing of businesses, in particular small businesses, due to

Covid-19, has reframed the importance and nature of work. There
are record numbers of newly unemployed people around the
world; for example, in the United States, the world's largest
economy, the Labor Department reports 3.3 million people
applied for unemployment benefits in March 2020, some of the
highest numbers ever recorded. On January 22, 2020, Saadia
Zahidi, Managing Director of the World Economic Forum and
website, indicated that with the Covid-19 pandemic of 2020, the
world is facing a reskilling emergency, and more than 1 billion
people will have to reskill by 2030. Reskilling will be the demand
placed on the visionaries of the ‘Fourth’ Industrial Revolution.

There is little doubt that 2021 is an uncertain period for workers

and the economy, and only time will tell how people’s health and
the state of the economy will recover. How governments have
responded to Covid-19 discloses something about how
governments perceive the purpose of employment and what
work actually means to people. It appears that governments have
perceived work almost exclusively in terms of income rather than
the goods and services it delivers, especially for “non-essential”
work (Pennings, 2020). Moreover, governments have given
xii Preface

nominal consideration to the non-economic factors of work, such

as bounded solidarity and trust, happiness, and well-being. These
are just as important as receiving an income.

Of course, what somebody calls “essential” or “non-essential”

depends on the state of affairs in which one finds themselves. I
overheard a person discussing the loss of their job in the
following way: “Governments have decided that my work is no
longer essential. They seem to forget that for my family, my work
is very essential.” People have protested that while small
businesses, hairdressers, restaurants, and brick-and-mortar retail
are closed, big-box businesses are open simply because someone
deemed them “essential.”

In Ontario, Canada, the conservative provincial government

seeking an election win in 2018 ran on the slogan, ‘Open for
Business.’ At this time of writing, May-July 2020, as the number
of reported virus cases rises, Ontario is closed for business until
further notice. For office workers, companies, and educational
institutions, people depend on preserving their work obligations
using video platforms such as Zoom, which for many, has become
the new office and workplace. However, for those trades and
professions who cannot utilize Zoom, such as restaurants,
hairdressers, dentists, and thousands of other “non-essential”
service industries, many have been forced to temporarily and
permanently close their doors to the public.

With the pandemic threatening to change the traditional

workplace forever, in April 2020, the Economist magazine ran on
its front page, a news story titled, ‘The Death of the Office’ (Nixey
2020). The author suggests that the traditional office may be on
its way out forever. Only time will tell if this turns out to be true.

In one sense, going to a place of work can distract us from both

the ordinary course of events in life and the critical life-changing
global events, that are often beyond our control. Work also keeps
us focused on the local and provides motivation for the future,
such as saving and spending money. In so doing, work gives us
 Perspectives on Working Life xiii

direction, distraction, and enhances our life purpose. Although

some people might wish to leave or retire from their work, sooner
rather than later, studies suggest that most of us are happy to
work because work supports a healthy identity and positive view
of oneself. Although we are not our work, the workplace serves
as a context for constructing and developing our identity
(Okhuysen et al., 2013, 492).

There are numerous reasons people work in general and why

they engage in specific occupations. People work only for the
money, convenience, or to use their skills and qualifications.
Sometimes people work because, frankly, they could not imagine
life without it. As one employee for a Sheepskin factory in
Australia explained to me, “I would be bored without work.”
Work can provide a welcome distraction from life and ourselves.

In 2003, I commenced doctoral research on the work experiences

and motivations of 35 to 63-year-olds. Over two years, I
interviewed individuals who had left their former occupations
for various reasons and begin new careers as schoolteachers.
Some had been former CEO’s, anthropologists, television hosts,
insurance agents, and oilrig workers. I came to realize the
importance these people placed on their working lives. Some of
these people were overworked, others agonized over retrenchment,
while some had experienced a health crisis at work, there was one
common denominator—they all believed a new occupation
would give them a renewed sense of purpose for life. Whatever
the motives for changing work midlife as an older person
competing with a younger generation, it was necessary and
worth the risk.

This book aims to highlight the importance of work, and draw

attention to the association of work practice and worldview. A
worldview has three key features. It explains how the world is
and how it should be, including what is essential to know, and
value. The worldviews discussed include:

1. Religious and spiritual worldviews

xiv Preface

2. Cultural worldviews
3. Indigenous worldviews
4. Humanist worldviews

Although not exhaustive, these four worldviews comprise beliefs

and values that tend to organize themselves into balanced
systems. Any incoherence in the workplace often leads to
decisions that will restore or correct that balance using the
worldview as a measure or standard for adjustment. Any sense
of coherence a person locates in their particular worldview gives
them a sense of psychological security and serenity, building
tenacity for the challenges that are inevitably involved in
performing their work duties (Antonovsky, 1987).

The Importance of Work

If you are like most people, you will spend most of your life in
work activities. Work is a place with possibilities for experiencing
joy, passion, success, stress, conflict, risk, and loss. It is a place
where you put in the best of you as you serve, sacrifice, try to
please, and establish relationships on the teams with whom you
work.

We can experience positive and emotionally trying times at work

(Cloud and Townsend, 2006, 243). Any work-study should offer
a comprehensive explanation, meaning it should be holistic as it
examines all features of a person (Stevens, 1993). It is essential to
study work from its spiritual, emotional, physical, and
psychological aspects because people make up work. These are
the elements that make humans complex, diverse and predictable.

Work is important to us, including the process (how we do it) and

the outcome or end product or service provided. Work is a central
feature and a primary source of fulfillment in our lives. At work,
we cultivate long term and fulfilling relationships, experience
community, and develop new skills and understandings about
life and ourselves. Moreover, over half of our conversations take
 Perspectives on Working Life xv

place in the workplace. Non-work related experiences are

essential for our need for social connection.

Work affects our relationships, determines where we live,

governs the type of transport we use, and even governs how we
plan and structure our life. If we stop to think about it, what
would life be without work? What activity provides so much
content to complain about to friends and family? Moreover, think
about the people who retire from work every year. Be it through
age, injury, wealth, or success, many of us will experience
retirement.

However, the notion of “retirement” is an interesting and

somewhat modern one. In the past, people may have been more
inclined to phase work slowly out of their lives. In 13 B.C., the
Roman Emperor Augustus began paying pensions to Roman
Legionnaires, who had served 20 years. In the 16th century,
Britain and several European countries offered pensions to their
troops. Still, it was not until 1889 when German Chancellor Otto
von Bismarck adopted the concept of old-age social insurance,
which advanced what we call today, ‘retirement.’

The idea of ‘retirement’ was put forward at Bismarck's behest, in

1881 by Germany's Emperor, William the First. The Social
Security History website, n.d, refers to a letter from William the
First to the German Parliament: “Those who are disabled from
work by age and invalidity have a well-grounded claim to care
from the state.” Retirement became synonymous with work
incapacity in Bismarck’s Germany in 1883.

In 1880, eighty-one percent of all seventy-year-olds were still in

the labor force, but only 22 percent were in 1990 (Costa, 1998, 12).
I once met a farmer who told me that farmers never retire; they
work until they die or cannot work anymore. In Western nations,
age sixty-five generally marks the beginning of “old age,” and the
use of sixty-five as the age of retirement has a long history.
However, retirement is generally a complete, abrupt, and
permanent withdrawal from paid labor and public life (Costa,
xvi Preface

1998, 6). This is a concern because research shows that when

people retire, there is a cognitive decline. Maybe there is
something true in the saying, ‘use it, or lose it.’

At the beginning of the twentieth century, aging was associated

with a loss of productivity. William Ostler, a professor of
medicine at Johns Hopkins, argued in 1905 that “all men should
retire at age sixty because by then they had lost all mental
elasticity similarly the English economist William Beveridge in
1909 agreed that that older workers lacked adaptability (Costa,
1998, 11). However, historical evidence shows that age sixty-five
does not mark a discrete decrease in mental and physical abilities;
nevertheless, 65 has become the age of retirement but only
because policymakers believe that it does (Costa, 1998, 11).

Since 1889, people have been living longer than 70 years of age,
and many want to continue working. Moreover, for religious
people, the notion of “retirement” is not characteristic of life’s
purpose. As the sociologist James Hunter notes, people who hold
to a religious worldview, i.e., Christian, Jewish, Muslim, do not
have a retirement concept revealed in their teachings. When a
person adopts retirement, this is more than what a religious
worldview teaches and signals that ‘secular’ society is attempting
to become far more influential than is appreciated.

The question of retirement or forced retirement becomes even

more pertinent at the beginning of 2020 as the world watches
record increases in unemployment, quarantines, and business
closures. We have a belief, albeit a false one, that work will always
be available. The closing of businesses due to the global pandemic
has changed that belief and has been a warning for millions of
workers and employers. What will work look like, feel like, be
like, post-pandemic? No one knows.

Occasionally work can create problems too. We can place work

above other essential responsibilities such as our health or
relationships. In fact, out of all the variables that influence work-
life happiness, the amount of time spent at work is the strongest
 Perspectives on Working Life xvii

and most consistent predictor (Dhas, 2015, 21659-21665). If we

experience boredom and burnout at work, we endeavor to reset
our work-life with the notion of trying to balance work with life.
Studies related to ‘work-life balance’ suggest that about one in
four employees experience high conflict-related levels to work
and family (Duxbury and Higgins, 2012, 8). For many of us,
“balancing” work and life is a mysterious concept that sounds
good but almost impossible to accomplish. What does it even
mean to “balance” work and life? The metaphor conjures up an
image of a scale with life placed on one side and our occupation
on the other. That is not how we live our lives. In the end, trying
to “balance” life and work could be more of a pipe dream rather
than an achievable goal.

Losing a job or being unemployed can negatively affect our self-

esteem. Job loss also affects society because work helps to keep us
civil. For example, studies suggest that when the rate of
unemployment is high, the rate of crime is also likely to be high.
Job loss can ripple across from the individual, family, and society
because there is always a non-financial aspect to work.
Unemployment negatively affects civic participation, crime,
health, and domestic child abuse (Murray, 2012). People do find
other activities in life besides their jobs to endorse their self-
worth, however, in general, people need work, the process, and
the reward, to feel good about themselves while society greatly
benefits when that transpires.

Work also provides a platform for people who hope to include in

the workplace their culture, religion, values, or traditions. When
this transpires, co-workers are encouraged to inform themselves
about the values, beliefs, and dispositions of their co-workers.
Consequently, a perspectival approach to work helps produce
understanding about those aspects of life that are meaningful and
influential but often invisible.

So employees, if you have ever wanted your boss, supervisor, or

manager to know why you think and act the way you do, then
xviii Preface

this book is for you. To employers— if you have ever wondered

why your team behaves the way they do, there is probably a fair
and reasonable explanation; consequently, this book is for you.

By understanding some of the best insights from each worldview

and work culture, one can get pretty close to their desirable
model. Should you choose to accept it, your mission is to explore
these worldview lenses, examine your worldview lens and work
motivation, and consider alternate beliefs and practices.

I encourage you (and me) to shine a light on our unexamined

work values in the spirit of developing a more meaningful
motivational work-intelligence.

Accordingly, this book presents an intriguing journey into an

activity that takes up so much of our lives—Work. Enjoy the
journey into the fascinating and diverse world of work.
 CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION TO WORK AND BELIEFS

“Work is the activity which corresponds to the unnaturalness of human

existence… work provides an “artificial” world of things.”
—Hannah Arendt, The Human Condition, p.7

A few months ago, a neighbor confessed to me, “I have a great

job, but I’m unhappy.” Alex was enjoying a career with a high
salary, flexible work hours, and many problem-solving projects.
The company Alex worked for was large and dynamic,
employing hundreds of workers on site. It sounded like a ‘dream
job,’ yet something was not quite right.

In terms of working space, research suggests that the physical

extent of the workplace, together with a larger number of
workers, can affect altruism, social connection, and trust. It
appears that smaller workplaces with fewer employees encourage
more trusting and healthier work communities (Schumacher,
1973). The website, Changing Nature of Organizations, Work,
and Workplace, suggests that the characteristics of social capital,
i.e., trust, relationship building, and sharing of resources, are
more evident in workplaces, which comprise small numbers of
employees and have shared, open, and unassigned meeting
spaces (Heerwagen, 2016).

On the surface, our work can appear to others as perfect. Yet, in

reality, many people experience work in terms of the ‘hamster
syndrome.’ We run around doing the same thing over and over
while never sensing achievement. The result is boredom,
repetitiveness, leading to a lack of motivation. Our work
interferes with life, that is, a meaningful and full life, and our
2 Chapter 1

frustration inhibits other areas, such as relationships with friends

or family.

Putting aside the possibility that work boredom is typically a

Western “problem,” perhaps the real challenge is that work is
‘unnatural’ to living a full and meaningful life. The ancient
Greeks, who left a lasting imprint on Western civilization, would
agree. In ancient Greece, work itself enjoyed minimal importance.
Literally, the Greek says, “we are unleisurely in order to have
leisure” (Pieper, 1963, 20). To be “unleisurely”, according to Pieper,
is the word Greeks used for ordinary everyday work. Work was
unnatural to a life of leisure, and was only a means to an end.
However, if work could yield an invention that could solve a
significant problem or make life easier, the job did have value.
Therefore, the ancients Greeks' valued the effectiveness of a
manufactured good, but not how the good was developed. This
idea originates from an ancient Greek worldview.

If the ancient Greeks were right about work, then there are
approximately 7.7 billion people in the world today living
unnatural lives due to their work commitments. That number is
nearly 70 percent of people in the world now who are working.
A striking figure of about 5 billion jobs: alternatively, it could just
be that Work is valuable and necessary for living a good and
meaningful life. Of course, this might depend on the type of work
one does. Some occupations, by their very nature, are destructive
to the mind, body, and soul.

Another idea is that work is meaningful because it affects our self-

esteem, our confidence, and our relatability to the world around
us. Work can be a vital measure of our identity. Being out of work,
retrenched, and losing a business can be very painful because
work is not only about giving up your time in return for money,
as many people choose to work for reasons beyond financial
rewards.

It is not surprising to learn that our occupations are among the

first topics of conversations with friends and strangers. Few
 Introduction to Work and Beliefs 3

people leave a social gathering without knowing others' working

lives while sharing some of their own occupational experiences.
We think about work always, engage with it earnestly, spend our
life pursuing it, and sometimes even try avoiding it. Yet, for most
people, work is not just what we do but what we should do.

Yet, there is always the good and the bad to consider concerning
anything in life. Nowhere is this more evident than in the 1951
movie, ‘A Christmas Carol.’ Ebenezer Scrooge is a stingy and
wealthy businessperson. He has no time for sentimentality and
largely views Christmas as a waste of time. For people like
Ebenezer, work becomes godlike. It is who they are; there is no
other reality, joy, or contentment outside of their occupation.
‘Workaholics’ are devoted to their work, which is not necessarily
a immoral commitment, but like most things in life, that which
can enrich can also destroy. The message is the same one that
Ebenezer Scrooge eventually realizes that money does not
produce happiness; instead, we need people to make us happy.

Nevertheless, for most human beings, work consumes much of

their time here on earth. On the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
website, the average 70-year-old has lived for 613,200 hours and
spent 90,000 of those hours at work. Full-time employed persons
average 8.5 hours of work each day on weekdays and 5.4 hours
on weekend days.

During the last twenty years, the perception of work and

expected work duties has changed too. The U.S. Bureau of Labor
Statistics website shows that approximately 82 percent of
employed persons work outside of the home, while 24 percent do
some or all of their work at home. Employed persons aged 25 and
over, and those with an advanced college degree, are even more
likely to work at home. Compare this with one of the Nordic
nations. For example, in Finland, the Working Hours Act (Ministry
of Employment and the Economy, Finland, 2011) passed in 1996.
It gave many, but not all, employees the right to adjust their
workplace's typical daily hours by starting or finishing up to
4 Chapter 1

three hours earlier or later (Savage, 2018, 5). Working families

could manage work and family demands. In Finland, 92 percent
of companies allow their workers to adapt their hours, compared
to 76 percent in the U.K. and the U.S., with 50 percent in Russia
and just 18 percent of families in Japan can manage their work
and family demands (Ministry of Employment and the Economy,
Finland, 2011).

The difference here is that flexible working hours must be rooted

in a culture of trust. Research by Lott and Chung in Germany
found that people with flexible work-time arrangements put in
almost four hours more overtime and intensity than people who
work standard, fixed hours (Lott and Chung, 2016, 752–765).

In 2018, on an average day in America, 84 percent of women and

69 percent of men engaged in unpaid household activities. On
that day, among adults living in households with children under
age 6, the woman spent 1.1 hours providing physical care (such
as bathing or feeding a child) to household children. The U.S.
Bureau of Statistics website shows that men spent 26 minutes
providing similar physical care by contrast. From 2003 to 2018,
the share of men doing food preparation and cleanup on an
average day increased from 35 percent to 46 percent (U.S. Bureau
of Statistics, 2019).

So with all this to consider, how content are we with our work,
and is contentment even an important factor? After all, most of us
have bills to pay, food to buy, rent to cover, and mortgages to
attend. Perhaps work supports you and your family in various
ways, and that is sufficient. Perhaps work provides you with
meaning and purpose in life. It could even be that work supports
a personal life goal. Regardless of the reason, be it psychological
or material or both, most of us need to work, and the ways we
think about work in terms of purpose expose our values and
beliefs about what is important to us.

People also compartmentalize their work-life; that is, they keep

both realms happily at arm’s length and live and work in public
 Introduction to Work and Beliefs 5

and private spaces. We leave work at the ‘office,’ so to speak. Yet,

for others, work and private life are not separate. Work can
advance a favored lifestyle while similarly confirming our
personal beliefs. Some of us realize our best and most appreciated
selves at work, while for others, work sustains physical, emotional,
or spiritual needs. I marvel at people who work in dangerous,
life-threatening, and challenging occupations every day. The
oilrig worker incurs isolated and lengthy-time away from family
and friends, not to mention the harsh and perilous ocean drilling
work from an oil rig far out at sea.

Yet people do choose work that is dangerous and unpredictable.

Consider a correctional officer. Many officers work daily in
intimidating circumstances, and they do not receive very much
money for doing it. In the United States, a correctional officer
earns an average of $45,000 per year, while in Canada, it is
$54,809. In Sweden, prison officers are “low-wage” employees,
similar to other care staff, such as elderly people or hospitals.
They receive a medium salary of $37,644.24 annually. Police are
another group of workers who frequently experience dangerous
encounters. In Canada, they make approximately $56,969 per
year. In Japan, police officers generate $35,606.40 annually. What
drives people to choose jobs that entail dangerous and potentially
live menacing workplace environments?

Indeed, work can be dangerous to life. The U.S. Bureau of Labor

Statistics’ Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries list occupations
that led to a fatal injury for full-time employees while at work.
Here are the top five most dangerous jobs in America (Parker,
2019).

1. Logging workers
2. Aircraft pilots and flight engineers
3. Roofers
4. Refuse and recyclable material collectors
5. Structural iron and steelworkers
6 Chapter 1

Staying within North America but heading north of the U.S.

border, Canada also claims some of the most dangerous jobs,
according to statistics from the Association of Workers'
Compensation Boards of Canada (Swartz, n.d). Their list includes
the total fatalities and is in order of danger. Here are the top 5:

1. Fishing And Trapping: 52 fatalities per 100,000 workers.

2. Mining, Quarrying And Oil Wells: 46.9 fatalities per
100,000 workers
3. Logging And Forestry: 33.3 workplace fatalities per 100,000
workers, rounds out the top three.
4. Construction: 20.2 fatalities per 100,000 workers.
5. Transportation and storage: 16.0 workplace fatalities per
100,000 workers.

Of course, this is not an exhaustive list; many other jobs are not
listed here but have proved to be just as dangerous and deadly.

In Bangladesh’s Dhaka District on April 24, 2013, hundreds of

garment workers reported working. Within seconds, the plaza —
home to clothing factories, apartments, stores, and a bank —
crumbled to the ground, tragically with the workers still inside.
More than 1,100 people died during the collapse, and thousands
of more people were injured (Nittle, 2018).

Another deadly work incident occurred on 9 December 2019, in

the Indian capital of Delhi. Forty-three factory workers went to
their deaths when a fire swept through a factory that made school
bags. At least 100 people were sleeping inside the factory when
the fire started (Prakash, 2019).

Workplace safety is not essential in all countries, so workplaces

become deadly places to earn a living. Yet, for various reasons,
people continue to work in unsafe areas. Many people in
developing nations do not have the protection of workplace
safety regulations; moreover, they do not have the freedom to
work elsewhere. Next time we complain about our tedious job,
 Introduction to Work and Beliefs 7

think about the people who work in occupations, which pose

endless physical and emotional danger.

Today, the workplace has evolved, particularly in terms of

equality. Equality of opportunity is the term often used, and this
is good. However, “equality” in the workplace can also be tragic.
Nineteenth-century capitalism treated all family members as
equals. Although this appears as a good in itself, the
consequences were outrageous. Under the pretext of “equality,”
nineteenth-century capitalism prepared to employ six-year-old
children in mines and factories in place of grown men (Tucker,
2014, 147). Capitalism was not the problem; rather, it was
unregulated capitalism.

So working in the Victorian could be a constricting, unpleasant,

and confusing time to be alive, although the truth is, “every era
has its silliness and false starts” (Lind, 2019, 300). When we look
carefully at the 17th century Victorians of Holland and 18th
century England we can see many outstanding accomplishments,
which ultimately led to the universal spreading of middle-class
values. What were these middle-class values? The Victorians
believed in the principles of order, prosperity, and freedom. Their
work values comprised modesty, honesty in business dealings,
delayed gratification, and charity.

The Victorians' middle-class values also meant that work itself

was intrinsically good and not just to earn a wage. These values
were expressions of a more profound belief and faith and lasted
right up to the 1950s, even if you were poor. Hard work, saving,
and honesty were celebrated, while mindless consumption was
frowned upon.

It is also true that in Victorian London, there was no shortage of

hazardous jobs. One example is the toshers employed by the city
to clean the sewers as a sewer-flusher. The sewer hunters reeked
of the sewers because that is where they spent their days
searching the sewers. They sifted through raw sewage, looking
for valuables that had fallen down the drain. Cleaning the sewers
8 Chapter 1

was hazardous work as noxious fumes formed deadly pockets,

not to mention the tunnels frequently crumbling and the swarms
of rats that shared their workspace in the sewers (Cock-Starkey,
2017).

An 1851 illustration of a sewer-hunter or "tosher."Wikimedia // public

domain
 Introduction to Work and Beliefs 9

Up until the late 19th century, you could also be a medicinal leech
collector. In Tudor times, between 1485 and 1603 in England and
Wales, the Gong farmers were night-workers who did the
essential job of clearing human excrement from England’s
cesspits and latrines.

Our occupations can say a lot about our values, culture, priorities,
and beliefs. Of course, some people will always have more
meaningful work choices. They can choose employment based on
pay and benefits, job security, family wants and needs, workload,
opportunities for advancing a career, and so forth.

There are also those individuals who delay their working lives for
4-6 years to attend university or college. They do so in the
expectation of acquiring a particular type of work restricted to
their education. In most Western nations, attainable work via a
university degree usually comes at a tremendous financial cost.
For example, in the U.K., it is not unusual for graduates to be
paying their student loans back well into their 50s. Three-quarters
of university graduates will not earn very much after completing
their degree and will never clear that debt in a lifetime.

Many employers know that employees appreciate fair wages,

security, health care, and a promotion prospect. An emotionally
healthy work relationship between employer and employee is
essential. Maybe a shared philosophy of life, flexibility of work
hours, a happy and trusting work environment, together with the
potential for personal growth and learning. However, studies
from the past sixty years suggest that besides the satisfaction of
fulfilling a job description, employers do not know much about
their employee’s beliefs and values (Fowler, 2014).

Just recently, I stopped into a Starbucks coffee shop. While I

waited for my order, I had the opportunity to talk with a
Starbucks employee who had recently ended a prosperous acting
career. She was now working in the service industry as a barista
at Starbucks. An acting career had consumed too much of her life
and in her words, “ I had become neglectful to the needs of my
10 Chapter 1

family.” As a barista, the 9 am to 5 pm working hours she had

requested before agreeing to the job were advantageous to
quality time spent with family and travel. Her priorities had
shifted over time.

We might call this a work-life balance decision. If we believe that

our work should positively benefit others, and when it does, then
there is consolidation. If we think our work should reflect a
commitment to a Deity, and when it does, then there is
consolidation. However, sometimes we have needs that no
occupation can nurture. Susan Fowler (2014) explains:

An employee, who feels trapped in their job, feels she is being

taken advantage of, or feels overwhelmed by what is being asked
of her may ask for more money. Under her breath, she is saying,
“they don’t pay me enough to put up with this.” What she does
not understand is that there will never be enough money to make
up for the void created when her psychological needs for
autonomy, relatedness, and competence are not satisfied. People
cannot ask for what they do not know they need (Fowler, 2015).

In her book, ‘Why Motivating Peoples Doesn’t Work,’ Fowler

(2014) explains that autonomy is the human need to perceive we
have choices in life. Relatedness is our need to care about and be
cared for and contribute to something larger than ourselves.
Competence is our need to effectively meet everyday challenges
and opportunities, experiencing a sense of growth and flourishing.
Susan Fowler marks all these as psychological needs to explain
why people can interpret the same work expectations very
differently.

The prevailing culture also forms beliefs about work. Some of

these cultural values might include working hard, being entirely
honest, being a productive team member, respecting company
policy, and keeping promises. These cultural ideals set the tone
for the culture of any workplace. The question is, what happens
when these values do not align with the values of the employees.
Training employees to embody the values of their work is an
 Introduction to Work and Beliefs 11

ethically questionable activity. Indoctrination is usually reserved

for religious or spiritual organizations, where people’s participation
is seen as volitional” (Okhuysen et al., 2013, 498).

If personal values are out of alignment, people work towards

different goals, intentions, and outcomes. This can harm work
relationships, productivity, job satisfaction, duty, and creative
potential. Consequently, one of the most critical actions that
employers and employees can make is understanding how
personal, religious, or cultural values affect people in the workplace.

Some people have a deep sense of who they are, let us call this
identity, which can influence how they perform at work. Even if
we are not always aware of it, personal beliefs and values, which
make up our identities, guide our behavior, perceptions,
expectations, and relationships with colleagues, including the
questions we ask ourselves and the tasks we set for ourselves.

Freedom in the workplace is vital for some people. Employees'

freedom can range from functioning outside the office or
traditional worksite conventions, a say in company policy and
initiatives, which can lead to increased productivity and employee
happiness. Having the freedom to choose our workspaces or
contribute to business policy assumes that we can make decent
work choices, that we know what we are actually talking about.
There is a cultural component to this assumption. For example,
having the right to choose the type of work we desire is not a
universally held practice. For example, the Amish and various
Asian cultures do not place individual autonomy as a high
priority in life, including choosing our work or work practices.
The autonomous self is de-emphasized compared with tradition,
family, and community. For the Amish, formal education
terminates at the end of eighth grade, so there are apparent limits
to the choices one can make regarding a profession or job. The
Amish do not prioritize having the independence to choose
whether to become a small business owner, carpenter, baker,
horse trainer, or any other occupation. The Amish sense of
12 Chapter 1

identity is not fashioned by individual self-sufficiency but from

respecting tradition with an identity and work choice sanctioned
by the community (Choi, 2014).

During a recent conversation, a friend of mine on the verge of

retirement reminded me that only the young have the energy and
idealism to challenge the workplace, that is, to make practices
more efficient, meaningful, and equitable. He supposed, “When
you get older, you begin just to accept the way things are and let
them be, like it or not.”1 This reminded me of the German-
American developmental psychologist Erik Erikson. He
composed “stages of life,” with one of those stages being
generativity versus stagnation. This theoretically occurs from the
age of 45 to approximately 60 years. We supposedly contribute to
society and act to benefit future generations or we stagnate and
fail to find ways to contribute during this stage.

In terms of worker productivity, consider the average worker ant

who labors efficiently 19 hours a day with no coffee or bathroom
breaks and no overseer, and they do so with less than five hours
of sleep a day. Also, each ant carries more than 20 times its body
weight (Ward, 2010). The worker ant must find food and provide
the care necessary to rear more workers. In contrast, the numbers
of workers engaged in each task are always appropriate to the
current situation because the job performed will ensure the
colony's survival. Worker ant production often accelerates as
worker number increases.

In comparison with humans, the ant’s work-life seems grueling,

setting a very high standard for efficiency that few humans could
or would even want to replicate. At the opposite end of the
spectrum, the cute and cuddly Koala dozes for most of the day.
They can spend up to 18 hours a day sleeping. Although we may

1 Heywood. 2016. “How Religion Influences Work”. Interviewed by

Matthew Etherington, July 18, 2016. Audio, 13:11.
 Introduction to Work and Beliefs 13

not be as industrious as ants or as lackluster as Koalas, both seem

contented in life, one busy and the other less so.

Of course, human beings engage in countless kinds of work.

There are skilled and unskilled workers, essential or non-
essential workers2, and workers who depend on tools, machines,
or animals. The work can be ‘blue-collar,’ ‘white-collar,’ or
‘professional.’ Work can result in earning wage work or
voluntary. Work can be diverse or repetitive; it can transpire in a
home, an office, a factory, or occur in transit at any time of the
day or night. In the 1980s, Sheena Easton sang a song about her
“baby” working from 9 to 5, and this would be a strange song to
sing today as 9-5 work is rare. In fact, for some jobs and careers,
as technology has advanced, the notion of working 9-5 is no
longer desirable or necessary for efficiency or productivity.
Machines and technology have replaced workers in many tasks,
creating new job descriptions and work environments. As Neil
Postman's said, we live in a “technopoly”—a culture surrendered
to technology (Postman, 1993).

The digital culture has transformed how we work, increased our

opportunities for flexible work hours and advanced realities,
including working from home or in a cafeteria, or even out of the
country. On August 14, the 2013 Gallup Poll showed the wave of
technological advancement as the ‘Fourth Industrial Revolution.’3

As an undergraduate university student, I joined a 12-week

course on work titled ‘Work Organization in Society.’ It
comprised customary topics related to work such as the division
of labor, industrialism, gender, and work for an organization in
modern industrial societies. Unfortunately, I spent most of the

2 There is recognition that the notion of work as “essential” or “non-

essential” is debatable and open for further discussion and
debate.
3 The Fourth Industrial Revolution is discussed in the literature as

the fourth major industrial era since the initial Industrial

Revolution of the 18th century.
14 Chapter 1

time in class fantasizing about other things in life while missing

an opportunity to think seriously about something that would
ultimately consume so much of my life and cause me so much joy
and frustration.

Since then, I have entered the world of work and have had my
fair share of highs and lows, but I believe that work is worthy. We
expect to work, and it makes us feel good about ourselves; work
can bring people together and even confirm what we believe
about life. I suggest that we are as civil as people when we are
working. With all things being equal, when work becomes a
problem, it is rarely the work itself but the work process, which
includes the quality of work relationships. In most cases, the
method of work is the problem and not the work.

If you secured the winning ticket in the 10 million dollar lottery

next week, would you continue to work in your current job?
Many of us would resign the following day, while others, work-
life would continue. According to a 2013 Gallup Poll survey
conducted in the United States, most workers find their efforts so
rewarding that they would continue to work even after a $10
million lottery win (Newport, 2013). Obviously, for many people,
work satisfaction is not dependent on a salary. One reason is that
work aligns with a life of production. Work is valuable because it
produces a product or a service. Production, not consumption, is
more fulfilling in life. Having $10 million at your disposal would,
in most cases, lead to a life of consumption. Moreover, a life of
production is more virtuous than a life of consumption, ask any
older person. If we can not learn from older people, we cannot
learn from anyone, as a friend used to say.

There is often a contrast made between “old” work and “modern”

work. George Bourne’s description compares the social changes
in his hometown of preindustrial Bourne, England (Bourne, 1912,
15). He describes the “old work” of smaller communities of
people who believed in working hard and proudly. Although
they were not defined solely by their work, particularly true with
 Introduction to Work and Beliefs 15

the laboring people, they believed in their work because it stood

for something larger than themselves. The villagers engaged in
the “old work” of barrel making, shoemaking, cigar making, and
metalworking. They knew that poverty was always a real and
constant threat, so work was appreciated.

In 1912, village life in Surrey, England, involved long days for the
worker. However, rather than being sheer tools of production, the
workers were “quiet and patient men (sic) who experienced no
less often a compensating delight in the friendly feeling of the
device responding to their skill (Bourne, 1912, 60). They were not
the tools but rather had control over the tools. The tool corresponded
with their body rhythms and not the other way around.

Modern work emerges from “old work,” a type of Darwinian

evolution. Contemporary work is tinkering with older fragments
of a product, a cross-fertilization if you will, while making the
product more adaptable beyond its intended use, therefore more
efficient and desirable. Small companies and partnerships can do
this efficiently compared to larger firms because they have fewer
bureaucratic layers to get through (Froy, 2018, 210). The German-
born British economist Ernst Schumacher advocates for small-
scale over the large-scale business. He suggests, “the small-scale
technology, relatively non-violent technology, ‘technology with a
human face’ so that people have a chance to enjoy themselves
while they are working” (Schumacher, 1973, 5).

Work Can Kill You: Get off the Treadmill

I have a friend who changed careers from school teaching to
private fitness coaching. I remember one day as my friend
prepared for a 5 am coaching session with a client the next day,
shouted, “This is pure enjoyment.” I have known him a long time,
and never do I recall him ever saying that about school teaching.

A few months ago, my local car mechanic, who is also the owner
and manager, told me that he would soon be resigning as a
16 Chapter 1

manager to begin competing in ultra-marathons. He was handing

over management to junior staff. I naturally asked him why this
radical change of life; after all, the business had a solid reputation
and was financially doing well.

He told me the following. Over 30 years ago, his father began

building the business. He worked long and hard, often into the
early hours of the night, trying desperately to make the business
a success. At the relatively young age of 55, it all ended. His
father’s health began to decline, and he eventually suffered a
heart attack and died shortly after. The long hours invested in the
business contributed to his early death.

Moreover, his father was absent during most of his childhood and
he rarely saw his father. Consequently, my mechanic was
committed to living a very different work life. Life was too short,
death was too real, and this business, although prosperous, was
not worth an early end. Work is good until it becomes terrible. It
can give and also take away.

In some occupations, specialization is critical. Even in academia,

my line of discipline, it is vital to specialize in something.
However, I have also noticed the danger of being “too”
specialized. Once your specialization is superseded with a new
and “better” specialization, you become outdated. In my vocation,
there is a constant expectation to specialize in some area of study
and when you do not, eyebrows are raised. Unfortunately (or
fortunately for me), I have persisted, by choice, to be a generalist
rather than a specialist. I believe that a generalist has it over a
specialist because they can engage with more topics that my
specialist colleagues cannot. Think of a radiologist who is
specialized in their field but can also speak, write, and debate
with knowledge and authority on public policy. She is a
‘specialist-generalist’ equipped to address the challenges and
assumptions that effect her field of work compared with a narrow
focus and understanding in one area.
 Introduction to Work and Beliefs 17

There is no doubt that sometimes our work life can be

emotionally or physically unhealthy. Sometimes it is possible to
change occupations but not always. We should be wise and not
make radical decisions about our work, even when things are not
going well, such as believing that resignation is the only option.
My mother always told me not to make radical decisions in the
“winter” season of life but rather wait, take stock of things, and
soon the winter will be over and you can think more clearly about
the best path forward. What I thought was so difficult turns out
to be not as serious after all.

According to the 2016 Angus Reid Institute public opinion poll

conducted in Canada, out of 4,500 adults, including 2,500
workers, people report overall satisfaction with their current jobs,
while almost two-thirds say they’re interested in making a
significant change if the chance to do so came about. The report
showed that older workers tend to be happier about their work
compared with younger workers. Those who work in managerial
or executive positions, skilled trades, office and administrative
jobs, and professions are even more likely to feel good about their
employment situations.

However, for those who work in sales and service, the knowledge
and creative sectors, and unskilled labor, it appears that workers
are less than satisfied. Since the Covid-19 pandemic of 2020 and
as time marches on, there seems to be waning tolerance for typical
working hours, i.e., nine to 5 pm, and a greater focus on leisure.
A recent 2020 Angus Reid Institute, public opinion poll, shows that
more than half of Canadians would now prefer a shorter 30-hour
working week, equivalent to a four-day working week. There has
been an awakened consciousness that life and leisure are short
and family and friends matter more—how quickly we adjust. In
terms of leisure, the Bureau of Labor Statistics website (2019)
reported that watching television is the number one leisure
activity in the United States. It occupies the most time (2.8 hours
per day), accounting for just over half of all leisure time, on
average.
18 Chapter 1

People in all types of occupations have told me that work is

“killing” them. Stress, burnout, and fatigue is the meaning.
Author Jeffrey Davis (2019) notes that stress is high today with
cell phones glued to our pockets, we are never really away from
work as we respond endlessly to work-related emails, calls, social
media, and meeting requests 24/7. It is difficult to disassociate
ourselves from work. For those whose work has become a
devotion, a labor of love, they can rationalize how essential work
is to their lives. They, too, become stuck with the mindset that
because they “love” their work, and work is a catalyst to realize
their potential, there should be no boundaries.

Work is experienced at the emotional and cognitive level. Many

people hope to “love” their work— “Do what you love,” the
saying goes, “and you’ll never work a day in your life.” A school
teacher once told me that she “loves children”; therefore, she
loves her work. She also said that school teaching frequently
equates to restless sleep, spending too much time away from
home, and being so occupied with the job, rarely is she available
with those closest to her. Be careful with what you “love,” the
saying goes, especially if it is your work.

Some of us feel obligated to work because people depend on us.

At a local hospital, an emergency nurse once told me that she has
no choice working night duty shifts. That is, she feels obliged to
accept the work, especially when “a bout of the flu takes down
ten nurses.” She understands work as essential, and being
available is a matter of life and death.

Our work can also mean committing ourselves to years of

financial stress. Outside of Scandinavian and Nordic countries
where post-secondary education is typically free, work can entail
a heavy financial debt. Of course, the benefits of pursuing post-
secondary education to secure your chosen occupation can
outweigh the negative accrue of debt. An article in Macleans
magazine highlights young academics and their transition from
school to work. A university history department spokesperson
 Introduction to Work and Beliefs 19

reports that only 50 percent of the school’s graduates get tenure-

track professor jobs (Dehaas, 2014). Since 2014, although more
people are getting academic university degrees, the number of
academic work jobs has fallen even further (Carey, 2020).

Securing work that requires a college or university degree,

substantial debt can be a long-term tradeoff. In the Guardian, a
British daily newspaper, a story on student debt offers the
following: “Grace is 25, and her student debt is £69,000” (U.S. $
82302). University students in England graduate with the highest
student debt in the developed world. High fees and increased
interest rates mean the average student seeking an ideal work-life
would leave university with a deficit of more than £50,000 (US$
66,622) (Fazackerley, 2017). In the U.S., upon graduation, the
average debt is $30,000. With the pursuit of getting a good job,
many of us appear prepared to incur a large financial commitment
that will take decades to pay back.

Moreover, research suggests that additional education can result

in people less committed to their jobs. Interviews conducted in
the U.K. showed a relationship between further education and
work practice (Dunn, 2013, 6). For example, there is less desire to
work hard with more education and a preference for unemployment
rather than working in a perceived “bad” job.

It seems that less quality sleep, long work hours, pandemics,

unclear boundaries between work and home life, and acquiring
debt are major realities for carefully discerning work choices. Our
work can, like most things in life, be both beneficial and harmful.

Joy, Happiness and Social Capital in the Workplace

An ambitious career life can be exciting, satisfying, and joyful.
However, a meaningful life also requires an exploration of
purpose and life goals. Our work life is the same. What does our
work bring to us besides an income?
20 Chapter 1

Research suggests that work satisfaction increases when we

know our purpose in life. In my former career as a university
lecturer, I can recall the termination of not one but three
colleagues in a relatively short time. On their departure, they
cited misaligned values with management leading to unhealthy
work relationships. These three terminations led to me begin
what turned out to be an extensive interview process over a four-
year cycle in Toronto, Canada. My goal was to learn about how
career changers now perceived their work lives. It became
apparent they had all experienced misaligned beliefs in the
workplace resulting in meager work relationships. When the time
was right, they resigned and searched for careers closer to their
personal beliefs, values and perceived purpose for life.

That was back in 2007. Since then, I have continued to learn more
about people and their work lives. Using personal insights and
my own working experience, I have come to appreciate that a
quality working life can provide us with ‘social capital.’ Social
capital is the network of trusted social connections, the pool of
collective resources, and supports. When social capital is absent,
disruption, and stress increase. A workplace rich in social capital
looks very much like a healthy community where people know
and trust each other. There is social bonding, and people have
some autonomy with decision making in their place of work. The
workplace is not just about making money, “it is about forming a
tribe, a community of people who share values, who find a sense
of meaning in their work and have a shared sense of social
purpose” (Murray, 2019, 10-17).

Workplaces, high in social capital, are better at confronting the

unexpected crisis. One example is the American carrier South
West Airlines. The success of Southwest Airlines is an example of a
business, which fosters a healthy work community. Employees
and employers are sensitive to each other’s lives and are
committed to the idea that the company will not benefit
individually unless all, including management, pursue their
goals collectively. Author Jody Gittell describes the work culture
 Introduction to Work and Beliefs 21

of Southwest Airlines. She refers to a company that seeks shared

goals and knowledge, mutual respect at various organization
levels, and, most notably, across different employee groups. The
workers report as happy, invested in their work, and wanting the
business to do well. Collegiality and implementation of work
decisions are effective and fair, and there appears to be a high
level of morale and trust among workers and management
(Gittell, 2003). In other words, employees at South West Airlines
experience a work culture rich in social capital.

A particular event in our lives or even a global happening can

make us rethink our work practices. To give an example, after
talking with various people during the Covid-19 stay at home
orders, it appears that many people do not intend to return to
their full-time work routine before the pandemic struck the entire
globe. Of course, they cite the convenience of working from
home, additional family time, zero travel, saving money on fuel,
and car maintenance.

In contrast, some people have told me how miserable they are

working from home. They cannot wait to return to their
workplaces and “get back to normal.” These people cite missed
friendships with co-workers and even grieve the commuting
experience citing the importance of “thinking time,” which the
commute had offered. In fact, the journey to and from the office
was just as important as their work, serving a valuable
psychological purpose.

However, research suggests that commuting-to-work experience

can also lower job satisfaction (Chen, Ployhart, Thomas,
Anderson, and Bliese, 2011). Additional research looked at over
26,000 employees, studied longitudinally over five years. The
results showed that workers who had lengthier commutes to
work reported lower job satisfaction (Chatterjee, Clark, Martin,
and Davis, 2017).

Yet, there is no denying that the commute to work provides an

important mental separation from home to the office for many
22 Chapter 1

people. A study by Jachimowicz, Lee, Staats, Menges, et al, (2019)

proposes that the commute to work is beneficial because it helps
prompt people to engage in boundary management strategies, an
opportunity to transition into one’s work role.

As I wrote this in August 2020, protests are occurring across

North America to defund the police. I have a friend who is a
police officer. He tells me that although police work is satisfying,
rewarding, and fulfilling, it is also depressing, lonely, combative,
and heartbreaking. Although he values police work, these are
emotions all experienced in just one working day. Though he is
proud of his career, he offered a reminder that there are not too
many jobs where so many emotions are experienced in just one
day at work.

People who spend long hours in repetitive and routine work

obligations might laugh ( or cry) at the idea of obtaining or even
prioritizing “meaningful” or “joyful” work. Karl Marx famously
said that man (sic) is like a cog in the wheel of economic activity.
Look at the school billboard below, which encourages school
students to work hard because life is short, and happiness is
necessary to overlook that unavoidable reality that we all have to
face—death.
 Introduction to Work and Beliefs 23

The notion of ‘work happiness’ is undeniably problematic.

Appreciating that life is short might be necessary to better
understand and appreciate our work while we have it. In ancient
Greece, a similar message could be publicized and approved. In
ancient Greece, happiness was a vital life pursuit, and everything,
including work, was measured by that standard. Happiness does
seem a pleasant but challenging standard to obtain, mostly
because happiness is an emotion, which comes and goes as all
emotions tend to do.

Most of the time, we are neither happy nor unhappy, but typically
somewhere in the middle. Psychologists refer to happiness as a
mood, and we often make mistakes about this frame of mind.
Happiness is experienced externally in good quality relationships,
and the quality of those relationships can be determined by how
well we relate to each other. If we are happy at work and connect
with at least one of our co-workers, we happily commit to doing
the necessary work. According to psychologist Abraham
Maslow, the goal is to reach self-actualization. This is the highest
goal a human can obtain. To reach our full creative potential self,
that is, to become self-actualized, a poet must write poetry, and a
musician must make music (Cable, 2018, 24). In other words,
what we can be, we must be.

Seeking and achieving happiness implies accepting unhappiness.

In an interview by Shana Lebowitz with a psychologist from
Harvard Medical School, the problem with happiness as a life goal
are,

When we have a particular goal around happiness, what it can

lead us to do is to mark every disappointment, every setback,
every concern as proof that we’re not happy enough or almost
proof that we've failed in our attempt to be happy. And it's just
not a realistic way of living (Lebowitz, 2018).

Regarding work, rather than attribute unhappiness to a

disheartening work environment, we might consider how our
values can align with work's importance. What we think is
24 Chapter 1

despair is possibly frustration at misaligned personal values in

the workplace. Maybe we are in the wrong job, our identity and
work profile do not match, or perhaps we have unrealistic
expectations, and it is time to readjust those expectations or
realize a new job.

The different ways people react to unexpected work events can

determine their happiness at work. Our psychological makeup
can influence reactions. Our biology entails an evolutionary
tendency to explore, learn, and not waste our human potential.
When we follow the urges in our brain to explore, experiment,
and remember, the neurotransmitter dopamine is released,
increasing our motivation and pleasure to explore more and see
problems as simple challenges to overcome. Of course, if our
work inhibits our biology and our autonomy diminishes, we
become demotivated and disengaged (Cable, 2018, 6).

You Are What You Do

There is an argument that suggests humanity is in danger when
we define who and what we are by the jobs we do because we
lose our ability to experience the wonder and mystery of the
world around us. Whether that is true or not, it should make us
contemplate how we spend our time away from work. We can
describe non-work time as leisure. Although we are not working
when at leisure, one could easily argue that we are still ‘a banker,
computer programmer, sales assistant, logger or dentist.’ We are
still the identity of what we do. In other words, we are at leisure,
and we are also our work identities.

For those of us who remember the sitcom Seinfeld, way back in

the 1990s, there is a particular scene when George is talking to his
friends Elaine and Seinfeld about working at Yankee Stadium.
Elaine asks George, “What do you do all day?” George responds,
“nothing much.” Then Seinfeld perks up, “I thought with the
promotion you got to do a lot more work.” George speaks, “yeah,
when the season starts, but right now, I sit around, pretending
 Introduction to Work and Beliefs 25

that I am busy.” Seinfeld retorts, “How do you pull that off.”

George smiles, “I walk around the office, looking annoyed. When
you look annoyed, people think I am busy; I am overworked.”
George then demonstrates how to look annoyed in the
workplace. By looking annoyed and overworked, George
believes his boss will assume he needs time away from work,
leisure time, a vacation, which is his ultimate goal.

I think this fictitious comedy of George and his work issues

exposes how work can be an extension of ourselves. George’s
dilemma calls into question the importance of character, work
ethic, values, incentives, and personal identity. Many people
work hard without recognition because working hard is
consistent with our cultural, psychological, spiritual, or religious
beliefs and values. While some people profess no profound duty
to work hard, many see their work as a valuable life distraction. I
asked a middle-aged female, employed by a family-owned
Australian Sheepskin Factory, why her occupation was essential.
She replied, “I work, so I am not bored.”

In his well-known book, What Color is Your Parachute? Richard

Bolles offers job seekers the following advice. He warns us to
never refer to yourself as your job because that is too limiting and
places you in the past. Instead, we should inform people what
type of items we like to work with, such as working alongside
people, music, ideas, and so forth. Telling people about the kinds
of entities we want to work with helps give others and ourselves
some idea about the job we desire most and a reminder that we
are not entirely what we do; we are not our work —that seems
too limiting. Our occupations are just another feature of our
identity. We never work with things simply as they are; we see
and understand decisions and realities against the backdrop of
what can be and what should be (Sokolowski, 2008, 186). Any artist
can confirm the validity of an actual white canvas and a
potentially vivid landscape.
26 Chapter 1

When our work aligns with our core beliefs, our worldview, then
work, and identity is often closely matched, and our motives for
work increase because personal values and beliefs underscore the
work itself. My work colleague once said, “I work for God, not
the employer.” Another example is the many workers in Roman
antiquity who fused their selves with their work identity. Upon
death, these people would have the name of their occupations
secured to their gravestones. For example, a gardener from
Northern Lycia on the southern coast of Turkey had the following
tombstone text inscribed:

Daphnos, the best of gardeners, lived well, died well, and

prepared for himself a hero’s resting place after having labored
much (Lis and Soly, 2012, 86).

There was also Atos, the mineworker, who had the following
tombstone inscription:

Atos, the greathearted Paphlagonian, from the shores of the Black

Sea, has ceased from toil in this distant land. No one rivaled me
in skill (Burford, 1972, 177, cited in Applebaum, 1992, 37).

Their identity originated from a job well done and an ideal that
duty and hard Work justified glorification to a god-like status
(Goosen, 1974, 22).

Whether people today would want to insert their occupation on

their gravestone could become a fascinating discussion.
Nevertheless, some people’s work, personal beliefs, character,
and identity are synonymous.

In 2004 when I first began asking teachers about their work and
identity, I came to appreciate that one relatively simple question
revealed enough for a better understanding of work and character.
I asked, “What do you do for work”? A very uncomplicated
question. The reply, not surprisingly, was just as straightforward,
“I am a teacher.” I then asked what they taught as a teacher. Once
again, the response was indistinguishable. In all the interviews,
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
 Ja kun vartuin vanhemmaksi pois ei mennyt heikko henki.

Kerran lehti kellastuu, lakkaa laulumieli, nurmi nuutuu,

lahoo puu, soipi kuolon kieli.
LAULA, LAULA, LAPSONEN.

Laula, laula, lapsonen, kevään kukkamailla, sorjan saat sa

sävelen, soraääntä vailla!

Laula, laula vieläkin, suuri ihmislapsi, kunnes syksyn

vihmoihin hopeoituu hapsi!
UUNNAVUONNA.

"Kun on usva uunna vuonna, niin on halla

heinäkuussa."

Vanha vuosi, vaivan vuosi, paljon riisti, vähän suosi, hallan

toi se toukomaille. riemua jäi rinta vaille.

Kussa kulki, viljan polki,

kaatui onnen kaunis olki,
murtui nuori lemmen heinä.
Kuura kiilsi kyyneleinä.

Aatos arka, henki heikko,

pelotteli öinen peikko,
suuri suru, vaiva, huoli
mulle arkun kantta vuoli.

Odottelin onnen vuotia

kaihomielin, mutta suotta.
Nyt kun näen vuoden tulon,
tiedän, jättää kuivan kulon.
 Usva uipi päivän eessä,
aurinko ei nouse seessä,
kiteiden ei kimallusta
hanget, aamu synkkä, musta.

Riemu poissa, ahdingoissa

käyn ma kaihon kammitsoissa,
poissa toivo, poissa usko,
onnen usko, aamurusko.

Enne outo ei se mulle, ei se onnen kesä tulle, päivät

menneet mairehuiset, eessä hallat heinäkuiset!
ALEKSANTERI SUURI.

Hääyössäni nyt häilyy Babylon ja vihkijuhlaani se viettää

suurta. On irti kaikki naurut nautinnon, ma yksin, lapsi
raskaan kohtalon, en enää pääse alta ahdingon, vaan suru
kalvaa sydämeni juurta.

Hääyöni on ja tulet tuhannet nyt yli kaupungin jo uljaat

palaa. Ma kuulen tanssin, soiton sävelet, ja tiedän, että sykkii
sydämet nyt tenhottuina, naiset tuliset nyt armaitansa autuaita
halaa.

On kultainen tää linna kuninkaan, se mulle on nyt voiton

palkaks' suotu. Ja valkoinen on syli valtiaan, hän mua lempii,
viepi rinnoillaan mun ruusukammioonsa uinumaan, kun
juhlamalja viimeinen on juotu.

Mut erämaasta, takaa kaupungin nyt kuuluu jalopeuran

julma ääni. Se kuuluu keskeen riemun palatsin, ei lakkaa se
ma kunne kätkeynkin, se tuopi kauhun mulle suonihin, ja
myrkyn valaa nuoreen elämääni.

Pois lähdit kuolohon jo ystäväin, sait miekastani, veli,

synkän surman. Ma tunnen myöskin, lanka elämäin jo kohta
kätkee hauras, sydän täin jo kietoo usva öisten hämäräin ja
onnen viepi, riemun poistaa, hurman.

On elämäni ollut riehuntaa.

Ma rantaa tavoitin sen suuren meren,
min aaltoin alla päivä kohoaa.
Mut turhaan etsin sitä maailmaa,
suloisen missä sielu onnen saa,
ja sammuu julma polte nuoren veren.

Kun Ammonissa papit siunaten pojaksi kutsui mua

jumalien, ja Gordionin solmun pirstoen näin auki maailman ja
ääret sen, niin uskonut en silloin, tiennyt en kuink' olo raskas
ompi sankarien.

On kaikki turhaa! Hengen helleenein ma tahdoin kerallani

voittoon viedä. Nyt tielle vaivun, keskeen barbaarein, ja ilman
perillistä. Pojaksein vain hetken muisto jääpi. Miekallein en
kelvollista kantajaa ma tiedä.

Mit' olen, urho, kun käyn hautahan?

Oon yhtä halpa kuin on orpo orja.
Ken teoistani hyötyi? Maailman
ei radat muutu. Kaihon katkeran
vain osakseni sain, ja surkean
elämän kuohuun hukkui henki sorja.

On kohta päättynyt jo päivätyö, ja kaatuu kuolon eessä elon

valta. Jo lähestyvi haudan musta yö, on sielu sairas, sydän
vitkaan lyö, ikuinen kaiho rintaa kalvaa, syö, ja sammuu tulet
elon taivahalta.
 Niin, riehu riemuissasi Babylon, ja tanssi tuhansien tulten
alla! Juo huumetta sa lemmen, nautinnon ja laula kunniaksi
morsion! Mut kuninkaasi synkkään kuolohon käy yksin yössä,
tiellä harmahalla!
KULKIJA.

Ah, missä ompi nyt onneni maa ja unteni kaunoinen Kaana!

Yön vihurit ylläni vingahtaa, ja korpi on luvattuna maana.

Ah, missä ystävät armahat on

ja impeni valkea, vieno.
Ei ainoa astunut saattohon,
kun alkoi autio tienoo.

Ei kukaan saavu kulkijan luo, vain kuolema mukana kulkee.

Se levätä rauhassa kerran suo ja silmät siimeiksi sulkee.
 *** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TALVEN
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