Rethink Work

Changing how we think about work

Introduction

Changing how we think about work and how much work is needed for a good life

  • faviconUK Government to push ahead with an election campaign pledge to give staff the “right to switch off” and decline WhatsApp messages, emails and phone calls from their bosses or take on extra work in evenings and at weekends. The measure would not be mandatory for firms and not contained as part of the new Employment Rights Bill
    In: Democracy & Power    
    Topics: Worker Rights   
    Comments   
    Country: UK   
    Source: iNews    

  • favicon‘The new normal’: work from home is here to stay, US data shows — While the number of people working from home surged in 2020 at the beginning of the pandemic, peaking at around 60% during lockdown, people started returning to work in 2021. But then the number of people doing remote work started to stabilize
    In: Good life    
    Topics: Remote Working   
    Comments   
    Source: The Guardian    

  • faviconThe concept of a guaranteed basic income might seem novel or neoteric, but it dates back to 1795, when Thomas Paine suggested a “national fund” should pay every adult a “ground rent” of £10 a year until the age of 50. Earth is “the common property of the human race”, he argued, so everyone has been collectively dispossessed by “the introduction of the system of landed property” and was entitled to compensation
    In: Good life    
    Topics: UBI   
    Comments   
    Source: The Guardian    

  • faviconLargest UK public sector trial of four-day week sees huge benefits, research finds; staff turnover was cut by 39% and scores for employees’ physical and mental health, motivation and commitment all improved
    In: Working hours    
    Topics: 4 Day Week   
    Comments   
    Country: UK   
    Source: The Guardian    

  • faviconBeyond the Grind: Envisioning a Society Valuing Leisure – Stuart Whatley’s compelling argument for reviving the leisure ethic in modern society, contrasting our work-centric lifestyle with historical perspectives that valued free time and intrinsic pursuits
    In: Good life    
    Topics: Leisure, Workism   
    Comments   
    Source: Gear & Grit    

  • faviconUnited Auto Workers president Shawn Fain spoke before Congress in support of Bernie Sanders’s new 32-hour workweek bill: ‘We find associated deaths of despair, from addiction and suicide, of people who don’t feel a life of endless, hopeless work is a life worth living’ [2024]
    In: Working hours    
    Topics: 4 Day Week, Deaths of Despair   
    Comments   
    Country: US   
    Source: Jacobin    

  • faviconAs America’s attitudes toward religion have continued to shift, it was perhaps inevitable that Americans would now worship at the altar of work instead. There’s a word for seeking such validation, identity and community in your career: workism [2024]
    In: Good life    
    Topics: How to be Human, Workism   
    Comments   
    Country: US   
    Source: The Week    

  • faviconReversing the wealth transfers trend from young to old through Universal Basic Income offers a promising solution by redistributing wealth more equitability, stimulating economic growth, and promoting social cohesion [2024]
    In: Good life    
    Topics: UBI   
    Comments   
    Source: Independent Blogs    

  • favicon‘Surveillance capitalism’ is increasingly threatening workers’ collective action and the human right to public protest. The use of AI in the workplace — in recruitment, appraisals and so on — as with all workplace-related rules must be subject to collective-bargaining agreements [2021]
    In: Democracy & Power    
    Topics: Ai, Technofeudalism   
    Comments   
    Source: EDRi    

  • faviconHere’s What Happens When an Algorithm Determines Your Work Schedule – Companies have promised to improve automated systems that dictate work shifts. They’re still making workers miserable [2020]
    In: Predatory capitalism    
    Topics: Technofeudalism   
    Comments   
    Source: Vice    

  • faviconShipt’s Algorithm Squeezed Gig Workers. When their pay suddenly dropped, delivery drivers audited their employer with Coworker’s help and found that many received substantial pay cuts [2024]
    In: Predatory capitalism    
    Topics: Gig Economy   
    Comments   
    Source: IEEE Spectrum    

  • faviconThe four-day work week is the future – The evidence is clear: a four-day work week would boost productivity and happiness. So why aren’t our politicians pushing for it? [2024]
    In: Working hours    
    Topics: 4 Day Week   
    Comments   
    Country: UK   
    Source: New Statesman    

  • faviconEarlier societies had a more clearly articulated understanding of how leisure ought to structure one’s life—it being the crucial space for character building, civic participation, worship, and so forth, depending on the historical context [2023]
    In: Good life    
    Topics: Leisure   
    Comments   
    Source: Hedgehog Review