I was a corporate slave.
My 40 plus years of employment was mostly in the corporate world, but I
didn’t know until listening to a lot of clamor recently saying that working full
time in the corporate world is slavery. (Of
course although my confinement happened to be in the corporate world, it could
have just as easily been in the public sector). Well, maybe I was a slave. I was required to go to work every day and be
there for a whole day! All this for a
few carrots—health insurance for me and my family, a pension and savings plan, paid
vacations,…. But hey--they still owned
me didn’t they?
I’m being facetious, of course. A 40-hour work week is only 24 percent of
the hours in a week. Even accounting for
commuting time, eating and sleeping, I had plenty of time for myself. But more important, the time at work had
continuity and challenge, so even though there were times of tough demands, the
total experience over the years was one of satisfaction. The company health insurance and sick leave warded
off concerns about my family’s and my health care; the paid vacations enabled me
to break from work and return re-charged and in good spirits. And now that I am retired, the pension and
savings enable me to live the “golden years” in comfort.
Sadly, I see too many cases of people working part time jobs,
temporary jobs or contract jobs. . Much
of this is because of the weak economy and a way of people “hanging on.” Employers, driven by the bottom line, are
unwilling or unable to take the expense and/or the risk of making a permanent and
full-time commitment to employees. And
it seems like some people are willing to accept the reduced lifestyle that
comes from a part time job—or even two part time jobs. That’s wrong; work should be long term and enabling the goals of the both employer and
employee to be realized. Work should be
a career—not just a job.
How can that be achieved?
Laws to force full-time employment rightfully would be rejected like
finding a dead rat on the doorstep. A
culture change is required. Employees
need to recognize the productivity advantages of dedicated employees and make
business plans accordingly. Business school curricula should emphasize the
benefits of fully empowered employees.
Employees need to demand full-time meaningful work—not be satisfied with
the reduced life style that comes with part time employment.
A full time job should be liberation—not slavery.
As somebody pointed out to me, part time work by college students to finance their education is a different matter. My comments are about employment that is to sustain one on a lifetime basis.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your post and identify with your appreciation for the meaningful, fulfilling job you had. It is difficult to overstate the beauty of working in a world where one salary was adequate and women were busy as homemakers and full time mothers. Most men were happily engaged in providing affordable shelter, putting food on the table, and pursuing enjoyable activities with family and friends. There was no talk, in the world I knew, of being a corporate slave.
ReplyDeleteMy heart goes out to the present generation. It seems that most folks require two strong salaries in order to maintain a household with a part time home maker and mother.. What happened?
From my perspective, the answers to that question can be found in a one hour broadcast (PBS), which is available on YOU TUBE.. It is titled Inequality for All (Moyer interviewing Robert Reich).
If you have an opportunity to view this, I would be interested in your response.