What is work?

Abstract

As occupational health practitioners, our focus undoubtedly veers towards work: what it involves, its benefits and impacts. But how often have we paused to consider, what actually is work? The Cambridge dictionary describes it as: An activity, such as a job, that a person uses physical or mental effort to do, usually for money [1]. The Oxford English dictionary describes work as: To act for a specified purpose, or so as to achieve a specified end [2]. While the preceding provide widely accepted definitions for work, do we ask ourselves, ‘What does my client understand work to be?’ Socially, the definition of work has changed over the centuries much of which we have cause to be thankful for. In the 21st century, going to work for most of us no longer conjures the image of impending doom or death as might have been the case in the 17th and 18th centuries when there was much less emphasis on health and safety in workplaces. Due to the influence of legislation and trade unions, workers today also tend to have more of a say in working practices and how they are treated. Have these changes led to an imperceptible but greater shift in the paradigm of what workers themselves actually consider to be work? Gone are the days when most workers were grateful to have any job and were largely beholden to their employers as they depended heavily on them for sustenance and livelihood. An almost undetectable shift has taken place where workers now view work as an entitlement, and where the locus of control has radically shifted from the employer to the employed.