Day 9 of writing every day.
I’ve had this thought before but for everyone of us who hold a “full-time” job, we are all slaves to the clock judged and paid by whether we sell our labor, regardless of the quality of our work and how productive or unproductive we are.
The difference between the cost in labor paid to us workers is made up by the business owner or whatever organization employs us and they face a wide range of other costs besides paying for labor, such as rent for space, electric bills, internet, insurance, etc.
It’s understandable that small to midsized businesses that are susceptible to market fluctuations which could instantly turn them upside down in an instant face different challenges from big companies that earn so much regardless they don’t really know what to do with it besides reward executives and shareholders (rather than raising worker pay and improving working conditions).
But the one thing workers have in common, regardless of the size of their employer, is the fact that we get paid by the hour. The concept of “by the hour” is so ingrained I see very few people think outside of it.
We literally spend over a third of the day, which also makes up a majority of our waking hours at work. Whether we actually have work to do, are just looking busy all day, or have every last drop of energy squeezed out to complete every little task until the clock hits the scheduled end of the workday, is another matter.
This makes me feel envious of small self-owned businesses that state their standard operating hours appended with a “or until sold out” sign. I have no illusions about all the other things they need to get done to run their business, such as transport, taxes, documentation, securing suppliers, thinking up ways of getting customers to come and keep returning, etc.
If anything it’s having control over how you use and spend the time you have.
Everyone is given the same amount of time every day. But it’s more than obvious that one person’s hour of time is not assigned the value as another person’s. Sometimes an hour of one person’s time seems to be valued at more than someone’s entire life.
Hence we have those few who barely do anything considered work that indulge in luxury while the masses toil away barely able to keep a roof over their heads.
I think it’s commonly argued by those who support laborers that while productivity has gone up over the years, the wealth produced as a result have mostly been kept by those at the top, while those who actually do the work have seen little to no gain despite their increased output.
Because we’re not able to sustain the existing society without the majority of people being exploited as a result of unfair distribution of wealth, we’ve mostly allowed ourselves to be put in the position of being slaves to the clock in order to earn enough to survive. Otherwise who would want to spend at least 8 hours at work instead of working less hours to pursue their interests?
If we’re all more productive, why not change it to paying people for every 45 minutes of work for example instead of by the hour? If we worked 6 hours instead there’d be so much more freedom.
Thanks for reading!
One Chance Works 