The modern slave trade
The other day a woman in her 20s told me she was giving up her management job in hospitality because she was working too many hours. ‘‘I want to have a life,’’ she said.
My first reaction was to admonish her for not taking the opportunity to ‘‘get ahead’’ with her career. Then, as I racked up another 11-hour day, I instead admonished myself.
Monday was Labour Day, a day to celebrate the eight-hour day and the 40-hour week and, quite frankly, I don’t think one of us deserves to take this day as a public holiday.
Labour Day was first celebrated in New Zealand in October 1890, when trade union members and supporters attended parades across New Zealand followed by family picnics.
It all started with Samuel Duncan Parnell, a carpenter who believed that people should be allowed eight hours’ sleep, eight hours to live their lives and eight hours to work. He went to meet ships carrying new workers arriving in New Zealand to promote the eight-hour working culture he was trying to create.
Despite employer resistance, the eight-hour day became standard after workers began walking off the job if an employer tried to force longer hours.
And so here we are in 2021, Samuel Parnell, and we should be hanging our heads in shame.
Statistics New Zealand data shows about 400,000 of us work more than 50 hours a week in our main job. And many, particularly men, work more paid hours in a second job.
I’m all for hard work if it’s for a good reason. What irks me is that, when compared with the OECD, New Zealanders work longer hours and yet we are one of the least productive nations.
Frankly, it doesn’t surprise me. Have you ever done the thing they say you never should do: sat in a meeting estimating the hourly rate of each attendee and then adding them up to work out the cost of the meeting.
I try not to because each time I do it eats away at my soul. It’s a particularly horrific experience when, at the conclusion of the meeting, the only outcome is to agree to have another meeting.
Minutes are taken and then all the attendees waste more time checking they’re correct.
Aside from the financial cost, there is the lost opportunity cost of how we could be spending that time: hanging out with loved ones, reading, exercising, doing something creative, or just thinking.
Something’s gone terribly wrong when we’re spending hours at work but producing less than other OECD countries. Perhaps we have made everything far too complex. Have we got so wound up in process – planning, performance measurement, reporting and risk management – that we’ve lost what we should be there for: actually producing products and services?
Despite Parnell’s battle to win us an eight-hour week, our culture still encourages us to acknowledge and laud those who work long hours and sniff at those who don’t. So, I applaud the 22-year-old who refused to get absorbed into this way of living.
Here’s to you, Samuel Parnell, for thinking we all deserved a balanced life where we had time for family and leisure and recreation. We all agreed wholeheartedly at the time, and then turned our backs on the concept.
So, forget Labour Day. Our track record as workers is a disgrace. Samuel would be rolling in his grave if he knew how his hard work was being squandered.
Get back to work. There’s nothing to celebrate here.