According to the U.S. Department of Labor: “New York was the first state to introduce a bill recognizing Labor Day, but Oregon was the first to actually codify it into law in 1887. Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York had followed suit by the end of 1887.”
Over the years, VIM Executive Coaching has thought a great deal about “labor.” The origins of Labor Day are deeply rooted in trade unions and reforms. No matter how present-day society views labor unions, minimum wage, diversity, OSHA and many other issues surrounding the topic of labor, and we know there is great contention, the conditions of “work” more than a century ago were absolutely brutal.
In fact, “labor” usually connotes hard physical labor. If you are old enough, you may remember the words of your parents, grandparents and great-grandparents regarding labor back in the day. They weren’t embellishing; virtually all protections were absent. Even moderate physical labor conducted in years past, could manifest itself in later times as cancers, lung disease and loss of hearing or eyesight.
Then there is the present
Do we live in enlightened times? It is an interesting question. Great companies, multi-billion-dollar organizations abound that are largely sales and marketing organizations while goods are manufactured for them off-shore.
An organization may extoll their green record and how their carbon footprint is minimal, yet they are at odds to explain labor and health problems in the manufacturing end of their business. They largely “keep clean” of labor issues while allowing off-shore companies to do the dirty work. The entire issue of ESG, quite controversial in its own context of shareholders, boards and environmental impact, recognizes that companies are not separate from their ultimate responsibilities.
However, VIM business coaching has lately turned its examination of labor to another context that we will pose as “Work versus Labor.” Are the two words one-in-the-same, or are there subtle (and not-so-subtle) differences?
For example, even if work is demanding and frustrating, it can also be immensely fulfilling. Even if work requires sacrifice, or a long personal and physical journey or creates a situation where we must stand up and even oppose a status quo, it can be life changing.
On the other hand, work can be an excruciating daily grind where every interaction is worse than the one that has come before.
If we close our eyes, we can imagine both scenarios above. Executive leaders often have the choice to approach “labor” in one of those two ways. We have all seen, or even been supervised by those who care, who listen, who seek to change, seek to learn as well as to educate and mentor. Conversely, some of us have worked for miserable managers who are argumentative, intractable, and judgmental in personality. For them, work is unhappy labor; it is a guarantee that as dejected as they make co-workers and subordinates feel, they are every bit as shut-down and inauthentic within themselves.
The difference in both paths is either a lack or a richness of mindfulness. Whether an organization ignores reports of pollution by a sub-contractor, or racial inequity or even irregularities in a shareholder report is a matter of mindfulness.
Most executive leaders are no longer required to break big rocks into pebbles or to direct others to cover up work place safety violations, but some still celebrate a strategy of indifference and contempt rather than mindfulness.
In 2023, we are still seeing situations where such executive leaders are being subject to termination, fines and even imprisonment for decades of unmindful behavior. When the results of labor are simply measured in indifference and analytical output, the momentary outcomes are eventually tempered with failure.