Bertrand Russel believed that one must only sell one part of his day for livelihood and employ the remaining one for his happiness. This means that real happiness depends on keeping as much freedom as possible and not keeping all the time engaged with work for money and progress. The materialism fueled by capitalism demands otherwise and believes that human beings must sell all their time for the generation of wealth. Bertrand Russel also advocated the idea of happiness at work but the supporters of capitalistic ideology believe that more work brings more money, and more money brings happiness. But the question is about the quantity of work that is essential for one’s livelihood and the amount of leisure for one’s well-being.
Leisure has proved to be a bigger generator of happiness than work. Greek people are believed to be the happiest people in the world because they spend much of their time with their friends and relatives in a leisure environment after the work they are supposed to do necessarily. Many global business corporations provide leisure hours to their employees to keep them happy and engaged in work. For example, Google provides an opportunity of taking a rest during work if they feel tired or bored because Google believes that by doing so, the quality of the work increases manifold.
Many global business corporations provide leisure hours to their employees to keep them happy and engaged in work.
The modern civilizations of the world also provide opportunities to their people for leisure. For example, most western and American nations have 5 days of work and 2 days for leisure for happiness and rewinding and getting better prepared for the week ahead. They are thinking about the new concept of four days a week to further enhance the quality of work. But some people believe that these countries can do so because of the wealth they have at their disposal but most developing countries like Pakistan cannot afford the luxury of long weekends. While at the same time there are advocates of 4 days a week even in the developing countries who base their claim on the saving of energy, cost of maintenance, and reduction of official expenditures. They even claim that some percentage of work may be performed online from home as was done during the Corona days. In some technologically advanced countries, the concept of digital nomads has also been introduced so that business companies can allow their employees to work online while constantly moving from one place to the other and living close to the healing power of nature and breaking the traditional barriers of the workplaces. The advanced digital services, availability of satellite internet services, and the portability of modern gadgetry and computing tools have made it possible.
David Suzuki also in his essay ‘Work Hours’ suggested that an auto reduction of work hours at least by 3 hours per shift is going to take place because of increased production, slowed population growth, and changing economic priorities. He quoted famous economist John Maynard Keynes, who advocated that very soon the love of money for possession would soon give way to the desire for more leisure and family time and so working hours would be lessened automatically. Suzuki, however, does not ignore the other side of the coin and suggests that too much leisure could also lead to socio-political issues and would demand new solutions for new problems.
Pakistanis are especially facing this dilemma of the choice between leisure and work. On the one hand, Pakistan has a large workforce that is largely unemployed and is suffering from a higher level of anxiety and frustration and on the other hand, the state and its economic condition are in a doldrum which calls for conserving of energy and reduction of expenditure. Many experiments have been conducted in Pakistan, like 6 days a week, 5 days a week, or 7 days a week but neither of the above-cited ends could be achieved. For a country like Pakistan 7 days, a week work with reduced working hours of the shift can be successfully implemented if 3 days a week the worker can work online from home. This model can save energy, fuel, expenditure, and work much needed for the developing economy can be maintained in a required quantity. Besides, the worker can save themselves from commuting drudgery of poor commuting services daily from and to the workplace. This can provide the requisite amount of leisure to the worker to keep his efficiency level as desired for quality of work. The same may be employed for meetings and gatherings where a large amount of hard-earned cash is spent just to make the people come together in person and ensure their comfort level. This must be curtailed as much as possible by conducting all such activities online via Zoom or other online meeting devices. The saved money and resources can be used to uplift the life quality of the people of Pakistan. If done strategically, it can save precious natural resources like food and water, and yet an increased amount of leisure would be an added benefit for the happiness of people in general.
The writer is a professor of English at Government Emerson University, Multan. He can be reached at [email protected] and Tweets at @Profzee