If Money Wasn’t An issue, Would We Still Work?

Work has long been the scaffolding that supports our growing lives. It maps how we spend our days, where we choose to live, the relationships we forge, our worldview, and ultimately, the life we live. 

Society upholds and reinforces the importance of ‘the work-day’. Lines wrap around coffee shop counters, repeating the morning ritual. Bars tempt workers in with knock-off drinks, softening the long day, before commuting home to find refuge in screens for a few hours. 

That is until the weekend comes, and we can ‘be ourselves’ for two days. There’s ‘work’, and there’s ‘life’ – and this split-personality phenomenon we’re experiencing is a sign that something isn’t working. Job satisfaction aside, we’re all plagued by the same problem: Time. There’s just never enough. 

The Covid-19 pandemic, much like past recessions and revolutions, has cracked open the façade of work and everything that ‘9 to 5’ represents. 

“All the routines that knit the notion of work have dissolved”

Our cities have become shells, void of personality. Trains run without loyal commuters. ‘Work’ is now simply a function, detached from a place. The co-worker/acquaintance friendship category is at risk of being made redundant. All the routines that knit the notion of work have dissolved. 

It’s given us the time to reflect on fascinating questions, like what role does work really play in our lives? Is it just a social construct? Would it exist without the buy-in of humans? And what would society look like without it – reversion or progression? 

As work continues to transform into a remote model and Governments counteract the secondary epidemic of job losses with financial aid, society enters a potential new interplay of work, money, and time. We’re experiencing the precursor to a system that has been the source of both curiosity and contention for many years: A no-questions-asked, Universal Basic Income (UBI)-type societal setup. 

A social utopia, where we’re unbound from the 9-5, toxic workplaces, and the constant barrage of stress without having to sacrifice our livelihoods. While a UBI is no new idea, the Covid crisis – and the advent of AI, VR and robotics set to dismantle work further – has put this potential solution front and centre. 

And here lies the big question: If money wasn’t an issue, would we work? 

Wendy Perry, Managing Director of Workforce Blueprint, is a leading voice in the future of jobs, skills, and work. She believes people will probably span a spectrum of wanting to work, not wanting to work and having the flexibility of all sorts of combinations in between (seen in the paradigm shift to remote work). 

“There are several cultural and welfare issues, though. For example, there is existing government support for unemployed people in Australia, so a UBI may not be appropriate. However, in countries like neighbouring Indonesia where there is limited support for citizens, perhaps it might work.” Perry shares. 

Perry raises a valid question about whether a UBI would layer on top of current Government support or if it would replace it. In a country such as Indonesia, a UBI could serve as a pathway out of poverty for many. 

But, Perry says we won't answer these questions until we start to experiment with it. 

“What would be the incentive to earn more or start a business?”

“If everyone had access to a UBI, how would the economy and life continue to function? Some services are critical, like essential workers. And what would be the incentive to earn more or start a business? It’s hard to know without undertaking experiments and pilots to track progress, outcomes and any unintended consequences.” 

She believes humans will work alongside digital humans, AI, and technology-driven innovations in every industry and aspect of work. 

“But this doesn’t mean that humans will be replaced. Moreover, humans will be required to facilitate technology, manage the workforce, help to uncover unique intellectual property, consider ethical issues, and provide emotional connections.” 

The question remains, does work empower or hinder us? As Perry says: “Where there’s a culture of getting up in the morning, completing a hard day’s work and being rewarded for that in terms of remuneration, a UBI may well impact people’s mindset, health and wellbeing.”  

Sociologist, Sinteche van der Merwe believes work is liberating but also understands its problematic nature, as we know it today. 

“I’ve found that work is, in fact, the great equaliser. This is especially true for women. Work is the way for women to enter the public realm (society) to escape dependency and break the cycle of poverty in their lineage. Money remains a fundamental issue in power dynamics,” Van der Merwe ascertains. 

Where humans run into trouble is when the system declares one redundant. What’s left is a disempowered society, which has constructed their identities and self-worth by ‘what’ they do. 

“Our identities are built disproportionately around one area of our lives: work. We need a values system reboot”

“We live in a society where we introduce and compare ourselves by our work. Hard work is deemed more virtuous and important than human qualities like kindness and compassion. Our identities are built disproportionately around one area of our lives: work. We need a values system reboot.” 

Van der Merwe believes that a jobless world will require significant resocialisation and that “it could take three generations for change to occur.” It will be a slow process, even though the global embrace of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement showed it is quicker than ever to disrupt the mainstream conversation.

“It’s also important to note; these events are typically taken up by developed countries faster than undeveloped. So, in the case of a seismic social shift like a UBI, there needs to be a discussion on a country-by-country basis,” Van der Merwe reiterates.

Perry introduces a critical commentary, speaking to the values system point. “The value systems that underpin different countries and regions around the world are steeped in history, key events, politics, economic, social and environmental factors, and there is a never-ending combination of values within a country or region, too.” 

“This question assumes that work equals success, and for some people, that may not be the case, especially in Eastern cultures and developing countries. These conversations and discussions could draw out shared values and a collective vision where a UBI may or may not be included. To aid these deliberations, an evidence-based approach, where a UBI may be working in other countries and cultures, would be necessary to understand the practicalities and long-term impact on society.” 

This debate goes far beyond just work. It’s about how humans derive meaning and purpose – and how that’s mirrored in culture. Children reveal their dreams to become astronauts, superheroes and the like. Fast-forward twenty years of compounded societal messages – ‘be this’, ‘do that’, ‘earn this’, ‘reach that’ – and practicality long replaced those dreams. 

“Covid-19 has revealed a collective value-set that is both fragile and shallow”

Covid-19 has revealed a collective value-set that is both fragile and shallow. “Now that we’re all working from home, it’s given us time to think about what we truly want. During the lockdowns, everyone became a baker, an artist, a runner and a chef.” 

To paraphrase economics and technology writer Derek Thompson, we become cultural producers. 

Given that ‘career capital’ is defined to include social (personal contacts), human (qualifications and experience), economic (financial resources) and cultural (skills and attitudes), now is an invitation to think about work beyond just money. And our time-poor society is desperate for an overhaul. 

This elixir of connections, experience, money and skills must exist in society’s future. It’s much more than just a conversation about money. 

History tells us that during times of economic depression or cultural collapse, depression and suicide skyrockets. If Universal Basic Income satisfies our most basic psychological and safety needs, therein lies an opportunity to recreate a more supportive society focused on individuals’ strengths. 

Van der Merwe says towns and cities can become micro-economies that generate income through community exchanges to pay the citizens. It’s not ‘work’ in the traditional sense, and it flips the mainstream narrative – replacing jobs with purpose-driven work. 

Perry adds: “If a massive social reordering did occur based upon income levels and the potential to earn, there could be an impact on areas such as pay equality, but there would also need to be other changes to community and family responsibilities – such as child-rearing and parenting, household work and chores, gender roles in private and public spaces.” 

“The fourth revolution stands as an invitation to reform many of the societal sore spots that plague young people”

This social reordering will overhaul every facet of life, including how each culture thinks about education and immigration. While there will always be power relationships at play, the fourth revolution stands as an invitation to reform many of the societal sore spots that plague young people. Beyond capitalist versus socialist thinking lies new ground – free from decades of student debt and unnecessarily soulless jobs, where both innovation and artistry can thrive. 

It’s an overhaul of motivation levers by removing the fear of putting food on the table, instead igniting entrepreneurial spirit and investing in human capital (education) to increase economic output. 

However, a UBI brings about another new set of worries: social control, political influence, and vanishing resources for people with specific needs. Will parents caring for disabled children receive extra money? What about new mothers? People battling mental health issues or homelessness?

Alyssa Battistoni, a political theorist at Harvard University Centre for the Environment, says the problem with basic income is that it tends to read as an idea without an ideology. 

“There is no shared plan to give people money – with drastically different views of how much money people should get, where it should come from, and who should get it. To be a genuine step toward a post-work society, it has to be genuinely universal and unconditional. It must provide enough income to actually live on and supplement, rather than replace,” Battistoni says. 

“There’s much debate as to whether these payments meet minimum requirements in terms of cost of living”

Perry mirrors this statement, adding there’s much debate as to whether these payments meet minimum requirements in terms of cost of living – and hence, benchmarking these levels would need to occur. How it will be funded is another priority question. 

A minimum income floor for all is a fascinating and timely option for the future of society. What makes it challenging to execute is that we all have our notions around money, how much of it we need, and the potential implications of not controlling that number. 

The World Economic Forum reveals the Fourth Industrial Revolution will transform one-third of all jobs in the next decade. The rise of mechanisation and automation is set to eliminate 85 million jobs by 2025, simultaneously adding 97 million – a surplus of 12 million. 

“The future economy will ask us to reskill, upskill and do it over and over, and faster than ever before”

The future economy will ask us to reskill, upskill and do it over and over, and faster than ever before. But it’s not as if humans haven’t been dealing with insecurities and unease for a long time. 

“Textile manufacturing during early industrialisation in the UK is a perfect example. To halt the revolution, the weavers destroyed the machines. I have a theory that the human body just isn’t ready for the changes we see today. Think about the world just 50 years ago. It was a very different place,” Van der Merwe adds. 

In the grand scale of humanity, the concept of planning for or designing a ‘career’ is still relatively new. The ‘work to live’ mentality is what must be reformed. Society is craving change, and people are opting out of the system. It’s a sign of fragmentation in modern life and an invitation to reimagine society. 

The onus is on all of us to redefine work and the emotional baggage it brings. To become active participants in the conversation, instead of obedient, head-nodding employees. To come together and invent a modern style of work and a whole new way of life. 

More stories