Does that surprise you? It doesn’t remotely surprise me.
I still connect work with success in the sense that attitude in life is everything and people with the right attitude tend to be successful and work hard.
They tend to get stuff done, they tend to have ideas, and they tend to be more upbeat, more into life, and more active.
The malaise that this country has gone through as a result of Covid is reflected in the various approaches to work that have come out of it. We don’t like work, we want four-day weeks, we want to not come to the office, we like the unemployment benefit, and we like quiet quitting.
There are in fact only 2.6 million of us in work. Think about that. Half the country works, half don’t. That’s not a lot of people to raise the money to pay for all the stuff we want.
Upon finding out that we work less, good old Radio New Zealand (who else) went straight to the sort of person you would expect to seize upon our approach to work to have them espouse the idea that we should, in fact, work less!
Yes, they rang some academics. People cloistered away from the real world, to tell us we should be working less.
Not only did they want us to work less, they proffered the idea that if we worked less our productivity might go up.
Productivity is the age old debate. The simple truth is we know we are not very productive as a country and we want to improve that, so we have talked about it for literally decades, and yet, have we improved it? No we have not.
I can tell you for nothing that working less does not productivity improve.
There are of course smarter ways to work. Set the task and get it done, less mucking around, fewer road cones and smokos and more digging the hole. That sort of thing.
I was going to say I actually like work. Work is good. You have to enjoy your work of course, and for many I think that is probably part of the productivity issue. If you don't like your job, it's hard to do more of it.
But enjoyment is a choice and, certainly for most, what you do for a crust is a choice.
From personal experience, if you love what you do it's not actually work. And maybe if we broke the mindset that work is a problem and work is bad then we wouldn’t be as unproductive, and they might be able to find an academic who says we should work more because it's good for you.
Mike Hosking is a New Zealand television and radio broadcaster. He currently hosts The Mike Hosking Breakfast show on NewstalkZB on weekday mornings - where this article was sourced.
The malaise that this country has gone through as a result of Covid is reflected in the various approaches to work that have come out of it. We don’t like work, we want four-day weeks, we want to not come to the office, we like the unemployment benefit, and we like quiet quitting.
There are in fact only 2.6 million of us in work. Think about that. Half the country works, half don’t. That’s not a lot of people to raise the money to pay for all the stuff we want.
Upon finding out that we work less, good old Radio New Zealand (who else) went straight to the sort of person you would expect to seize upon our approach to work to have them espouse the idea that we should, in fact, work less!
Yes, they rang some academics. People cloistered away from the real world, to tell us we should be working less.
Not only did they want us to work less, they proffered the idea that if we worked less our productivity might go up.
Productivity is the age old debate. The simple truth is we know we are not very productive as a country and we want to improve that, so we have talked about it for literally decades, and yet, have we improved it? No we have not.
I can tell you for nothing that working less does not productivity improve.
There are of course smarter ways to work. Set the task and get it done, less mucking around, fewer road cones and smokos and more digging the hole. That sort of thing.
I was going to say I actually like work. Work is good. You have to enjoy your work of course, and for many I think that is probably part of the productivity issue. If you don't like your job, it's hard to do more of it.
But enjoyment is a choice and, certainly for most, what you do for a crust is a choice.
From personal experience, if you love what you do it's not actually work. And maybe if we broke the mindset that work is a problem and work is bad then we wouldn’t be as unproductive, and they might be able to find an academic who says we should work more because it's good for you.
Mike Hosking is a New Zealand television and radio broadcaster. He currently hosts The Mike Hosking Breakfast show on NewstalkZB on weekday mornings - where this article was sourced.
3 comments:
Productivity is interesting in that very few jobs are productive in themselves . Many jobs are hands to the wheel but construction as in building gives daily,weekly, monthly, yearly, satisfaction of productiv progress and for those of us who are still in the industry a lifetime of memories and pride as we pass structures we have constructed for all of you to be warm and dry at your work, home and relaxation.
I tire of persons of considerably above average ability and with a very adequate financial cushion rabbiting on about the joy and satisfaction of work. They work well within their ability so is a satisfying pleasure. For the great majority it is not the case. It is a constant trial to keep up with developments. Physical work is very tiring, leaving no reserve for private time. Worsens with age. Unless at the very bottom of the heap, when the state rushes to support, any disruption drains resources, often established by great sacrifice. With productivity we should be working less. The living standards of the 1950s can now be obtained with far less input. We are conned by advertising to always strive for fashionable change and luxuries, and to keep up with the Jones', producing a fasle demand. The main reason we have to work hard is to provided for those often more rational who entirely escape the work drudge and depend on welfare.
Only in a dictionary does success come before work
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