WHY WE WORK

Today, American society is dominated by work. But there was a time when people could have made a different choice.

Some do it for love. Others do it for money. But most of us do it because we have no other choice.

The belief among W. K. Kellogg and others in the 1930s was that industry and machines would lead to a workers' paradise.  We were to have less work, more free time, and yet still produce enough to meet our needs. So what happened?  Today, work dominates our lives as never before, as we pile on hours at a rate not seen since the Industrial Revolution. Technology has offered increasing productivity and a higher standard of living while bank tellers and typists are replaced by machines. 

73 years age workers at W. K. Kellogg's cereal plant in Battle Creek, Mich., were told to go home two hours early. Every day. For good.  The mismatch between available work and those available to do it continues, as jobs go begging while people beg for jobs. Though Kellogg's six-hour day lasted until 1985.  The "Battle Creek's grand industrial experiment" has been nearly forgotten. 

Instead of working less, our hours have stayed steady or risen--and today many more women work so that families can afford the trappings of suburbia. In effect, workers chose the  path of consumption over leisure.

In a recent study of Silicon Valley culture over the past decade, San Jose State University anthropologist Jan English-Lueck found that skills learned on the job were often brought home. Researchers talked to families with mission statements, mothers used conflict-resolution buzzwords with their squabbling kids, and engineers used flowcharts to organize Thanksgiving dinner. Said one participant: "I don't live life; I manage it." 

In some ways, we have come full circle. "Now we're seeing the return of work to the home in 'terms of telecommuting," says Gillis. "We may be seeing the return of households where work is the central element again." 

But there's still the question of fulfillment. In a recent study, human resources consultants Towers Perrin tried to measure workers' emotions about their jobs. More than half of the emotion was negative, with the biggest single factor being workload but also a sense that work doesn't satisfy their deeper needs. "We expect more and more out of our 
jobs," says Hunnicutt. "We expect to find wonderful people and experiences all around us. "What we find is Dilbert."