In this session, Andreea explores the meaning and nature of work in contemporary society. After all, being “hard-working” is drilled into us in childhood. But what and who is modern work for? What kind of work do we reward? 

Good work offers us identity, belonging and the material means to live comfortably and enjoy life. Good work is in the service of society. Yet many of us work hard for lives of increasing precarity. Career progression can mean thankless striving on a personal brand marketing treadmill. We can find ourselves alone, exhausted, uninspired and poor. All the while, inequalities increase apace.

We casually objectify ourselves as “the labour market”, “human resource” and “human capital”. Although we teach our children to be kind, truthful and caring, when they enter the world of work as young adults, we encourage them to see it as a marketplace in which they themselves are for sale. We goad them to behave inauthentically, to network opportunistically. To say and do things they do not mean and do not believe have value. If they complain about their low-pay, low-joy work lives, we chide them for eating avocados.

In all of this, better things are possible. We can make sure we reward the work that benefits us all. That where work is needed, it is also a vehicle for a comfortable life. That the invented link between industriousness and wealth is questioned and our attitudes to merit reviewed accordingly. We can ensure automation serves society, that it saves us from drudgery without leaving us destitute. We can make work good, and society as it should be.

Join the conversation as we explore what "good work" really means.