Are you tired of the same daily grind of the 9 to 5? Do you find yourself dreading Sunday evening, anticipating the start of the week ahead? You are not alone! Most of us work 8 hours per day to eat in 30 minutes, 7 days a week to rest for 1, 52 weeks per year to take 1-2 weeks off for vacation, for jobs we don’t even enjoy working in.
In this article, we ask the questions “Is Work Necessary?”, as well as examining the need for work and its value, or lack thereof, in our lives. We will focus our discussion on full-time employment, which is a form of work that all of us are most familiar with.
Work Sucks, So Why Do We Work?
Why do humans need to work in the first place? Is work truly necessary for our survival, or is it just a product of our modern, capitalist society?
For many of us, our jobs feel like a never-ending grind. We clock in at 9 am and don’t leave until 5 pm, or even later. We work tirelessly, day in and day out, just to keep our heads above water. The reality is that full-time employment can be a soul-sucking experience. We’re constantly pushing ourselves to the brink of burnout, just to meet unrealistic expectations and deadlines.
And for what?
Work Brings Extrinsic and Intrinsic “Value“
To pay the bills? To keep up with societal expectations? To maintain our social status?
Yes. And more fundamentally, many of us also still believe in the intrinsic value of full-time employment. We believe that it is inherently virtuous and good for us. We believe that it brings character development including diligence, self-discipline and self-respect, and even a sense of purpose or control in life.
In short, we believe in both the extrinsic and intrinsic value full-time employment provides us.
The Problems With Full-Time Employment
Let’s look at this in detail. Is it true that full-time employment provides us with extrinsic and intrinsic value? From burnout to a lack of work-life balance and unhappiness about our jobs, it’s becoming increasingly clear that this statement may no longer hold true.
Work Does Not Provide Adequate Extrinsic Value
If we say employment provides us with monetary value, most full-time jobs don’t provide us with fair compensation for our time and effort. Many people find themselves underpaid and struggling to make ends meet. According to Malaysia’s Department of Statistics, the median salary for Malaysians in 2021 is only slightly above RM2,000.
Work Does Not Provide Intrinsic Value and Meaning
Furthermore, the intrinsic value of full-time employment is also questionable. It cannot adequately serve as the groundwork of one’s character especially when many jobs nowadays are mindless jobs that don’t serve real purpose or provide real utility, as Professor David Graeber called “Bullshit Jobs”. Graeber identifies different categories of bullshit jobs, including “flunkies” (positions that exist solely to make someone else look important), “goons” (jobs with an aggressive or coercive element), and “duct tapers” (people who fix problems caused by inefficient organisations). These jobs are often characterised by a lack of autonomy, low job satisfaction, and a feeling of being disconnected from the value they create.
It is even more questionable that works brings us meaning, purpose and control in life, as we were once taught. According to a survey conducted by Zippia, 89% of workers have experienced burnout within the past year. Can you believe it? Only 2 out of 10 workers have not experienced burnout in the past year.
On rare occasions, one’s full-time employment does provide one with adequate pay, support for character growth as well as a sense of purpose and meaning. But a job like this is a lottery that many people work their entire lives to win. However, the reality is that the odds of finding that ideal job are slim.
Is Full-Time Employment Necessary?
“In a sensible world, everybody concerned in the manufacturing of pins would take to working four hours instead of eight, and everything else would go on as before. But in the actual world this would be thought demoralizing. The men still work eight hours, there are too many pins, some employers go bankrupt, and half the men previously concerned in making pins are thrown out of work. There is, in the end, just as much leisure as on the other plan, but half the men are totally idle while half are still overworked. In this way, it is insured that the unavoidable leisure shall cause misery all round instead of being a universal source of happiness. Can anything more insane be imagined?”
Bertrand Russell, In Praise of Idleness
Full-Time Employment Is Not Necessary From An Economic Standpoint
One may argue that full-time employment is necessary for economic growth. However, traditional measures of economic growth, which heavily rely on factors such as net private investment and employment in goods production can no longer fully capture the dynamics of economic progress.
In James Livingston’s book “No More Work”, he discusses the idea that economic growth does not necessarily require an increase in the labour force. He points out that starting from 1919, the nature of economic growth underwent a change. Growth continued throughout the 1930s, even though net private investment declined and employment in goods production decreased. There are other factors at play that contribute to growth even when these conventional indicators are not showing positive trends, which could include technological advancements, innovation, productivity and efficiency improvements, and others. In other words, economic growth does not necessarily require an expansion of full-time labour.
Furthermore, we are also experiencing a surplus of goods with the advancements in technology and productivity. In Bertrand Russell’s essay titled “In Praise of Idleness”, he suggests that either a portion of the population working full-time or everyone working part-time is enough to support everyone’s essential needs. By everyone working full-time, it results in an overproduction of goods, economic instability and unemployment.
What’s Next?
Alternatives to Full-Time Employment
So, if full-time employment is not necessary, what do we do?
With the overwhelming burnout and unhappiness experienced by the working class, it is a wake-up call to all of us. Perhaps it’s time to explore alternative models to full-time employment, such as part-time work, job sharing or distribution, entrepreneurship, or even a universal basic income so that everyone can sustain their livelihood and at the same time the freedom to pursue meaningful activities and contribute to society in ways that align with their interests and values.
While the implementation of a universal basic income is controversial and is not something that will happen overnight, there are things we can do as individuals to make our work-life better.
Do I Need This Job?
As citizens of this burnout and unhappy society, the question we should ask ourselves every day when we wake up is not “Do I really need this job?”, but rather questions like “Are there any other alternatives to full-time employment I can explore to better fulfil my needs and goals in life?”, “Can I tolerate having a basic income?” as well as reevaluating your values and priorities in life.
There is nothing wrong with climbing the career ladder if you value professional development and status. There is nothing wrong either to only work part-time if you value spending more quality time with loved ones and can do away with a basic income. But we shouldn’t work for the sake of working, and we shouldn’t let social norms decide what is good and right for us.
The reason behind your decision for full-time employment should be justifiable by reason and passion, not fear. What’s next is really up to you.