Monday, November 21, 2022

Who Are You Working For?

There’s the short and the long answer. Here’s the long answer.

By Nathan Koslowsky, Representative

Who do you work for? It’s a question I’ve asked and replied to many times over the years.

How would you respond to that kind of a query? It would not be misleading to name the company you work for. That’s the socially anticipated response. It’s the easy answer offered without much thought.

Naming your employer can be a source of pride, or ambivalence or resentment, depending on the reputation of the employer, the relationship between the employee and their employer, or the nature of the work.

But there is so much more to consider before responding to a such an innocent-sounding question. The who is often much broader than simply your, or my current employer.

Of course, an employer benefits from the labour of its employees. But who else benefits from your labour?

If you’re building a school, children will benefit.

If you’re building a water pollution control centre, rivers and lakes will benefit along with all those who can drink water out of the tap without concern.

If you’re building a nursing station, you are working for all those people with health concerns who will one day walk through those doors.

If you are harvesting or packaging peat moss, you are working for all those gardeners who grow and sell or consume the tomatoes and peppers and other edibles people enjoy consuming.

Your work benefits your employer as well as the end-user of whatever you happen to be building. But you may also be working for another set of stakeholders—your family, your loved ones, your neighbours.

Your work puts food on the table for those you love and care for. It buys school supplies. It pays for soccer and hockey and summer camp for your children. It pays the rent or the mortgage that puts a roof over the head of you and your dependents. And it pays the taxes that keep our streets plowed, boulevards mowed, and ensures that the right supports will arrive quickly when you dial 911.

Yes, you work for your employer, the end-user, and those in your care as well as your neighbours. But you also work for you.

Work is good, and under normal circumstances, work is good for you and for others as well. As nice as it may feel for a week or two, human beings aren’t designed to sit around all day sipping umbrella drinks from a coconut for the rest of our lives.

Work is good, and it’s good for us to work—for our employers, our families, our communities, and ourselves.

I notice a shift in me when I understand that I’m working for so much more than just my employer. Work takes on added meaning, value, and importance.

It feels good to contribute something to the grand scheme of things, to be part of something bigger.

So, the next time someone asks you who you work for, you can trot out your standard response. Or you might consider asking them if they’ve got enough time to hear your answer.

Who Are You Working For?

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