Next Monday is Labor Day in the US. And I wonder, why do people work? Elliott Jaques is very specific in his response.

“People want work in which they can have the opportunity to exercise their full potential capability, to spread their wings widely, to receive a fair compensation for that work and to be recognized and understood as not needing artificial carrot and stick treatment on order to get on with that work.

By work, I mean an organism’s use of judgment in making the decisions necessary to reach a goal. Goal directed work is a basic feature of all life.

All humans need to do work that not only benefits oneself, but is, at the same time, of value to others.

It may be noted that, not only do millions gain work opportunities by becoming engaged in employment, but need something on the order of 40 hours per week of such engagement. That is what explains the fact that the employment work week, which came down to 40 hours during the first half of the twentieth century, has gone no lower. Any smaller number of hours is not sufficiently fulfilling. Indeed, people who work on their own, routinely spend many more than 40 hours per week.”

Elliott Jaques – Social Power and the CEO