A deep dive into the motivations, purposes and challenges about why we clock in from 9 to 5
In 1930, economist John Maynard Keynes published his famous essay Economic Possibilities For Our Grandchildren. He predicted that by 2030, 100 years from then, we’d all be richer, more technologically advanced, scacrity would be a thing of the past and we’d only be working 15 hours a week.
So what happened and what went wrong? We’re working more now than we ever did – and that doesn’t seem to be about to change any time soon and certainly not in the next five years. The more we earn, the less likely we are to take time off – and the reward for work turns out to be more work. Enough turns out to be a slippery concept.
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All of this lends itself to this question: why do you clock in and clock out every day? Is it for a pay-cheque at the end of the week or month – or are you passionate about what you and where you work?
In this week’s Brainstorm podcast, presenter Ella McSweeney discusses the whole idea around why we have to work – and what we can do to change this – with RTÉ Brainstorm’s most prolific contributor when it comes to work and careers, Prof Kevin Murphy from the University of Limerick
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The credits: this RTÉ Brainstorm podcast series is presented by Ella McSweeney, research is by Hazel O’Leary, the producer is Adrian Carty and it was recorded by Shane Dempsey at Collaborative Studios. RTÉ Brainstorm is edited by Jim Carroll and the assistant editor is Aoife Ryan-Christensen. The series is proudly supported by Taighde Éireann/Research Ireland.
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The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent or reflect the views of RTÉ
