WORK LESS Institute of Technology

NOTES FROM SEPTEMBER 29

We had a great turnout Wednesday evening at LUGZ -- fourteen people, so many that we decided to break into two smaller groups for discussion. I'll post notes from both groups in the extension to this message, as I receive them.

For identification purposes, I'll designate the two group "East" and "West," indicating their relative compass position within the coffee shop.

West group began by sharing stories of the personal experiences that brought us to an interest in the issue of working less. Then we moved on to respond to two of the questions mentioned in the study circle outline. Here is a summary of the points raised in the discussion (thanks to Katie for writing these up!):

1) How does lack of time hurt people, the community, and the planet?

People:
· causes on-the-job stress and related injuries due to fatigue
· separates workers from loved ones causing depression and isolation
· leaves lack of energy for more individual interests
· over-work causes people to identify with their jobs, excluding all else
· leads to low self-esteem when job satisfaction is less than 100%

Community:
· robs the community of a robust & broad exchange of ideas and labour from individuals who don’t have time to participate in volunteer work or create
· undermines the idea of government of and for the people because it prevents people from participating in local affairs and the political state

Planet:
· causes excessive non-recyclable garbage and industrial pollution because much of the items that are used to "save time" are the ones with the most packaging and processing
· adverse affects the planet by fostering reliance on faster transport and the convenience of owning a car

2) Why do we put up with our time famine? Is there something in our national character that has lead us to this?

· lack of easy to use and viable options to the current model.
· with a public whose time is consumed by work there is none left available to consider that alternate models might work and could even be more efficient.
· people are deeply affected by advertising and because most advertising is used to influence us to purchase goods no matter what our needs, it is possible that this is causing over-reliance of identity on consumer durables.
· Individuals rely more and more on their pecuniary status as a source of self-esteem and as a "second prize" for the time that they've spent working instead of doing the things that they really want to do. e.g. If you can't be happy at work, think of what your going to do with the money that you're making while at work and all the great things that you are going to spend it on.
· we may have been cultured into our current need to spend most of our time working
· Canada, as a country based on the British/Protestant model has inherited the famous work-ethic of "first toil, then the grave"
· That traditional work ethic is impractical and unnecessary in a post-modern climate, in fact, it is harmful.
· there is a strong negative social stigma attached to being out of work, or even looking for work.
· we blame individuals themselves for their situation in relation to work whether deserved or not. Our society calls anyone who is not working to full capacity lazy, and accuses them of not reaching their full potential.
· you are not free to not strive for the top, as anything less than financial excess is seen as failure.

Posted by sandwichman at October 1, 2004 10:11 AM