Seek have produced a thing called Money Matters, and they look at work-life balance.
Actually, hasn’t that become a thing as well – work-life balance. I can't place it exactly, but it seems like a Covid thing. The world changed and so did we.
Working hard is now so last year, or so last decade. We all long for work-life balance with a good sprinkling of mental health days.
But working from home is a scam because according to Money Matters if you got a pay rise you would go back to the office quick as you like.
So is it about work-life balance or is it about money?
Everything is about money. We just like to pretend it isn't. You feel more virtuous if you pretend it isn't about money.
But Money Matters spills the truth. Working from home is easier, we save on the commute, you claim you are more productive, blah blah blah. "Hey, how about 20% more?" Then you're out of there.
We would work more hours for more money, we would take on an increased workload for more money, and we would commute further for more money.
There isn't much we wouldn't do for more money.
The work from home thing, by the way, is funny because before Covid there was virtually no such thing. The idea that you could invent a thing and then having invented it, because we were all locked down anyway, turn it into a permanent thing that could only be broken by a pay rise is the ultimate in farce. It's an insight into how quickly a habit can form if it suits you.
Anyway, the only other thing that can make us blow up our precious work-life balance is more time off.
But it still doesn’t beat money.
It's why lotto is popular I guess – money solves everything.
Do we value work-life balance? My word we do.
But do we value it more than money? Don’t make me laugh.
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.
But working from home is a scam because according to Money Matters if you got a pay rise you would go back to the office quick as you like.
So is it about work-life balance or is it about money?
Everything is about money. We just like to pretend it isn't. You feel more virtuous if you pretend it isn't about money.
But Money Matters spills the truth. Working from home is easier, we save on the commute, you claim you are more productive, blah blah blah. "Hey, how about 20% more?" Then you're out of there.
We would work more hours for more money, we would take on an increased workload for more money, and we would commute further for more money.
There isn't much we wouldn't do for more money.
The work from home thing, by the way, is funny because before Covid there was virtually no such thing. The idea that you could invent a thing and then having invented it, because we were all locked down anyway, turn it into a permanent thing that could only be broken by a pay rise is the ultimate in farce. It's an insight into how quickly a habit can form if it suits you.
Anyway, the only other thing that can make us blow up our precious work-life balance is more time off.
But it still doesn’t beat money.
It's why lotto is popular I guess – money solves everything.
Do we value work-life balance? My word we do.
But do we value it more than money? Don’t make me laugh.
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:
Let’s not mistake working hard with working in the office! Many people simply don’t like working hard, in the office or elsewhere - and get away with it.
Once again Hosking proves he has no idea what he is talking about. His view is only of "working from home" in New Zealand and only of his own greed for more money.
Maybe Mike could, for example, take a look at "van life" in the USA. A trend that I have been following for around 10 years but which really exploded during the Covid lockdowns. Thousands of people have become "digital nomads". They live their lives out of vans, buses, campers and even cars, travelling the USA, staying in National Parks and desserts and on beach fronts and other beautiful places, while continuing their jobs remotely.
They do this for work-life balance. For the ability to travel while earning an income. They do it because it equals the kind of freedom Hosking can't even imagine. The freedom to get out in nature and enjoy their beautiful country while they are young enough to enjoy it.
Yes. For some it is an economic choice because it is a much cheaper way to live, but as with anything in life, there are many reasons people do certain things or make certain decisions.
If, like me, you follow this trend, you will have noticed that it is rising in popularity in Europe, England, Australia and New Zealand also.
Not one of the people I have followed has ever regretted it. A lot of them travel with children and to me those children are receiving beautiful and valuable lessons every day about the natural world around them. They get to spend a lot more time as a family with both parents present. There are so many positives in living an alternative lifestyle to the traditional grind geared to the constant clammering after more money that Hosking thinks everyone wants. What a schmuck!
Reading this article was a precious waste of 1 minute from my life.
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