So writes Alain De Botton in ‘The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work’. Alain uses words in a way that turn the most ordinary of events into something of literary colour, causing you to pause and rethink what you have just observed or considered in an entirely different light. I envy his skill, art and craftsmanship with the language.
I travel to work most days by train into the metropolis Auckland from rural farming Pukekohe. Fortunately for me, when I started doing this some 8 years ago a small group of already long experienced commuters opened up and enveloped me in their ‘congregation’. The little group has grown and we euphemistically refer to ourselves as the Train People.
With the introduction of more services, the group has split into two divisions referred to by the departure time of our respective evening trains, the 4.42 and the 5.26. A benefit of being a member of this congregation is that we try and get together, partners included, for a dinner – mid winter Christmas and of course Christmas.
This congregation of Train People are all going to work and contrary to what Alain describes (although that seems to be the rule elsewhere in the carriage), engage in happy banter, keeping each other informed of important events in their lives like births; deaths; a storm ripping the veranda off the house; preparing to act in a new play; the exploits of grandchild and animals; and very often good natured ribbing.
Work dominates our lives and people see it differently. A lady I had never encountered before plonked herself in the seat next to me. I greeted her politely and enquired where she was off to. “Work!” she replied in such a way as to cause me to think I had asked a stupid question, and that ‘Work!’ were some great imposition keeping her from some other exciting and far more important adventure today. So I asked my second stupid question, “Are you looking forward to that?” She gave me a big wry smile and informed me, “I just go, do my job, don’t talk to anyone and go home. I’m sure they don’t even notice I am there.”
As Alain notes, “A question of motivation appeared: whether the company could succeed in providing its staff with a sufficiently elevated set of ideals in whose name they were to exhaust themselves and surrender the greatest share of their lives.”
A long time ago, a chap by the name of Aristotle apparently defined an attitude that was to prevail in respect of employment for a long while when he referred to the structural incompatibility between satisfaction and a paid position.
And trying to prove there shouldn’t be incompatibility, well not a big gap anyway, is the focus of my work from which I derive a great deal of pleasure, satisfaction, frustration and occasionally anguish.
David Ellis is one of life’s gentlemen in the Confucian sense of the word (although he would not consider himself old), ‘A true man of honour who will cultivate themselves morally; participate in the correct performance of ritual; show filial piety and loyalty where these are due; and cultivates humaneness’.
As a boy he just wanted to be a farmer so spent as much time as he could after school, weekends and during holidays to be working on farms. He had one clear objective, to be a farmer. To achieve his goal he worked three different jobs at once to earn enough money for a deposit on a farm. He succeeded and in the early 70’s brought a farm and set up a substantial sheep and beef operation, for which he won the Waikato Business Excellence Agriculture & Primary Production Award in 2009.
But he had another passion, breeding and racing thoroughbred horses. His Te Akau stud has a formidable reputation and is the proud holder of the all-time record for most wins in a season – 2009/2010 – with 108 winners. In 2009 David was also a finalist in both the Waikato Business Awards for Excellence in Service and the Leader of the Year.
David and his wife Karen describe themselves as very happy with their work because, “It gives us such a thrill. Our business is our passion.” What a great pity my fellow commuter did not have the opportunity to work for employers like David and Karen.
Of course we don’t all get to own and operate our own business, with most of us having to endure the soulless, waste of time and costly trekking to some place to work for goodness knows who, hoping to get some satisfaction from paid employment. I consider myself very lucky in that respect, I wish many more could have that same experience.
We are currently on the tail end of what has been, according to the growers in our area, the wettest winter in at least fifty years. Fortunately we didn’t have a lot of stock. But regardless, horses are very hard on the ground and mud became the feature of the landscape along with significant damage to our fields and pasture.
I have begun the work of restoring paddocks and pasture. There is a lot to be done repairing this damage: feeding the soil; harrowing over and over the heavily pocked ground, sowing seed. All of this requires investment in capital and more so labour.
In such difficult circumstances and like people, there are always those who seek to profit from the disruption. In my case it is the rapid re-emerging of the weed dock, a weed which excels in adversity, using its long tap roots to mine the minerals deep down, beyond the reach of the grasses, to promote vigorous growth, which in turn crowds out the good quality pasture. In moderation it is a herb making a valuable contribution, however in these circumstances, and in concert with other undesirables they are making a play to dominate.
So the trick is getting the foundations right: good soil balance; nicely level paddocks; remove the weeds; quality pasture with variety yet balanced; producing a living organism of good health and benefit for the animals. Hmmm, perhaps an analogy for creating a good work place?
In that case the last word can go to Tony Schwartz in his ‘The Way We are Working Isn’t Working’, “An organisation truly is a living organism – a human community that can realise its highest potential only when each individual is fully valued and feels fully vested in a shared purpose. The better people’s needs are met, the better they feel, and the better the organisation functions as a whole.”
