Calling Time on Time for Money
42 years ago, we were challenged to reconsider how we were working, from none other than the legendary Dolly Parton.
It was 1980 and so many of us were fixed in a nine to five pattern of work. Hours worked in an office in exchange for a paycheque. It wasn’t serving us very well.
42 years and how far have we come?
We have changed, absolutely, and in so many positive ways. We have more openness for altering those hours and increasingly the location from where those hours can be worked. The fastest growing segment of the workforce is the hybrid workforce, combining home-based and office-based work. Post-pandemic, it’s likely to make up around 40% of us.
And yet, we still have the construct of hours worked in exchange for money. ‘Agreed hours of work’ are at the core of our employment legislation. It was limiting us back in 1980 and it limits us today.
What if our employment legislation was more flexible than that?
What if we could have alternatives to hours worked in exchange for money?
What if we could have ‘commitments’ for money?
Commitments for money is something I’ve been thinking about a lot. Hours worked in exchange for money is still a viable and valid option, but what if this was only one of several other options? Our insistence on hours for money in today’s world of work is getting in the way and artificially limiting the health of our workforce and workplaces.
Many of us want and need time for other important aspects of life. Work takes up such a large chunk of our waking hours, especially if you need a full-time salary. But time doesn’t necessarily equate to value. The 4 Day Week study shows that hours for money as a value exchange is flawed. We know that we can create more value through fewer hours worked.
What might the other options be?
I have ideas, but I don’t have the answers, so what would you like it to be?
I imagine commitments such as:
Deliver a particular workstream as part of a connected and wider team
Lead a specific project
Manage client or supplier relationships
Manage and develop a team of people
These could be ongoing commitments to fit with permanent employment, or discreet commitments to fit with fixed term employment.
At the moment our employment legislation doesn’t allow for this kind of arrangement. Instead, we are forced into time commitments, even if that’s not what the job requires. Many people I work with advocate for ‘managing outcomes, not inputs’ in an effort to become more flexible. Many teams do this in reality, even though it sits outside the core of our employment agreements. Our legislation hasn’t yet caught up with our reality and this puts everyone in a difficult position. Those working part time still have to manage on a pay cut, even if they’re delivering the same outputs as their full time colleagues. Those working full time are obliged to work their hours, even if it has become unproductive, or sometimes counter-productive, to do so.
In other circumstances, those who want to work outside the hours for money exchange become self-employed and forgo employment rights altogether. For some, this is an uncomfortable decision and leaves them feeling overly exposed to life’s ups and downs in the absence of employment security.
I think it’s time for us to pick up the challenge set down by Dolly back in 1980. She’s been waiting long enough for an answer. Haven’t we all?
What would you include in commitments beyond time for money?
How would you create more flexibility in our employment legislation?
What would Dolly do?