All Work and No Pay: The Great Speedup

[Kat45]

On a bright spring day in a wisteria-bedecked courtyard full of earnest, if half-drunk, conference attendees, we were commiserating with a fellow journalist about all the jobs we knew of that were going unfilled, being absorbed or handled "on the side." It was tough for all concerned, but necessary—you know, doing more with less.

"Ah," he said, "the speedup."

His old-school phrase gave form to something we'd been noticing with increasing apprehension—and it extended far beyond journalism. We'd hear from creative professionals in what seemed to be dream jobs who were crumbling under ever-expanding to-do lists; from bus drivers, hospital technicians, construction workers, doctors, and lawyers who shame-facedly whispered that no matter how hard they tried to keep up with the extra hours and extra tasks, they just couldn't hold it together. (And don't even ask about family time.)

Webster's defines speedup as "an employer's demand for accelerated output without increased pay," and it used to be a household word. Bosses would speed up the line to fill a big order, to goose profits, or to punish a restive workforce. Workers recognized it, unions (remember those?) watched for and negotiated over it—and, if necessary, walked out over it.

But now we no longer even acknowledge it—not in blue-collar work, not in white-collar or pink-collar work, not in economics texts, and certainly not in the media (except when journalists gripe about the staff-compacted-job-expanded newsroom). Now the word we use is "productivity," a term insidious in both its usage and creep. The not-so-subtle implication is always: Don't you want to be a productive member of society? Pundits across the political spectrum revel in the fact that US productivity (a.k.a. economic output per hour worked) consistently leads the world. Yes, year after year, Americans wring even more value out of each minute on the job than we did the year before. U-S-A! U-S-A!

http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/06/speed-up-american-workers-long-hours

I love this article. I've always believed that "productivity" and "multitasking" were not the positives they are portrayed as. They're just ways to get rid of lots of jobs and crush the remaining workers with so much work that they can't have a life. Everyone is either unemployed or overworked.

[dkf]

1. The story of my working life.

[Lorien]

2. All of my bosses at a large corporation that I do work for are in that boat

by age 40 their bodies are already breaking down like those of men and women 20 years their seniors. They have no lives outside of work and their marriages often don't last. The company is doing very well, so there is NO excuse for it!

[the other one]

3. Kick n rec

[Sherman A1]

4. Thanks for Posting

I have been saying this to my co-workers for a very long time. New labor saving devices are implemented, hours are cut, new organization chart is implemented, hours are cut, new "systems are added", hours are cut, hours are cut and then more hours are cut. But somehow the same work needs to be done and now a department that ran with an average of 200 hours per week is now less than 70, but sales continue to increase and the stuff keeps coming in to be stocked and displayed......

[The2ndWheel]

5. So...luddites had a point?

[Javaman]

6. There is a great radio show called , RadioLab..

They interviewed a researcher who did a study regarding "multitasking". What was found was not surprising. If you do one thing at a time, you do it well, if you do many things (or at least try to) at a time, you do them all mediocre.

Contrary to popular belief, the mind can only truly focus on one thing at a time.

A better use of our time and brain would be schedule our day. Work x amount of time on one thing, then move on to the next once that time as elapsed.

[Kat45]

9. Absolutely.

I find that when I try to do just two things at once, each one suffers. I much prefer to work on things in succession rather than all at once. I also hate it when I;'m in the middle of something, then expected to drop it to do something else immediately. I'd say it wastes more time because when I get back to the first task, it takes a while to see where I left it and get going on it again.

[Laelth]

7. k&r for Mother Jones and for the truth. n/t

-Laelth

[smirkymonkey]

8. K&R

I am beginning to feel like I am going to fall apart and I still have 30 years left to go to retire - everyone I know feels the same. We just can't keep up with it, so something has to give.

[Kat45]

10. Almost every job ad now includes multitasking as one of the skills required

It is expected everywhere.

[librechik]

11. they're not concerned with stopping us having a life. They want to stop us from organizing unions

And it's working.

[Hydra]

12. That too

But not having a life is a useful tool as well- people who are always working and trying to keep up at home don't read or dig into political or social matters.

It's like what they used to do during slavery- keep the slaves busy all the time and they don't have time or opportunity to plan effective resistance.