The concept of work that we have today is relatively new. Across human history, most people have lived a subsistence lifestyle where they hunted or gathered, and later grew or bred, the food that they ate. As towns, cities and civilisations grew, more complex societies evolved, but they were still largely agrarian — with farming becoming a much larger enterprise that fed not just those who toiled in the fields but city dwellers too. But even in Rome at the height of its ancient glory, few people did the kind of work that we would recognise.
Work was seasonal, and limited to that that could be done in the daytime or by candlelight. The big changes came with the Industrial Revolution in Europe in the late 18th century and the harnessing of electricity to operate lights and run machinery. Millions moved from farms, which had become more efficient, and into cities to take up jobs in factories and offices, or to work in the mines to dig the coal that fed these enterprises. At first, many workers were exploited, with shifts of up to 14 hours a day, six or seven days a week.
The five- or five-and-a-half day working week, and eight-hour day, that is now common around the world only a product of the second half of the 20th century. There remains disparity around the world when it comes to paid annual leave. In the United States, there is no mandated minimum, while Australians have at least 20 days, and Danes and Austrians get 25.
The debate over what constitutes a fair day’s work for a fair day’s pay rages on — as does discussion about the modern concept of a “work-life balance”. Over the past week, two extreme examples have put the discussion sharply into focus.
In France, which has a working week of just 35 hours, employees have just won the legal right to avoid checking their work emails outside of office hours. The measure has reportedly been taken to tackle an increase in unpaid overtime.
Meanwhile in Japan, Tadashi Ishii, the chief executive of the largest advertising agency, Dentsu, has apologised and resigned amid a scandal over the death of a 24-year-old employee. The case of Matsuri Takahashi — who jumped to her death after tweeting her distress at being bullied by her bosses and made to work at night and on weekends — is not unique. The phenomenon is so common that there is a Japanese word for it: karoshi (“death by overwork”).
Research shows that achievement in the workplace is not necessarily linked to the number of hours worked. It also tells us that staff who are overworked are generally less healthy and less productive. From a boss’s perspective, it is better for a worker to spend a week at the beach on annual leave than two weeks in hospital on sick leave.
At the same time, work is work – and global interconnectedness often demands that it be done at unsociable hours. And at the end of the day, it is not the hours we work, but the enthusiastic engagement with what we do that drives us to excel and succeed.