The Unintended Consequence Of Doing The Right Thing: Why Some Workers Are Working Harder

Abstract

Key changes in the workplace have occurred over the past decade, creating an often difficult working environment for many workers. In particular, many Australian workers are working much harder. Why are workers willing to acquiesce to the increasing demands of the workplace? In much of the literature on the increased intensity and extension of work, it is often implicitly assumed that workers are duped or coerced into such onerous situations. I take issue with this assumption by outlining the reasons workers give for the actions that they undertake in workplaces that are changing. I argue that working harder is often the unintended consequence of decisions that workers make in relation to other aspects of work. In this paper, I give two examples of these other aspects: (a) workers 'interpretations of why change is happening; and (b) their expectations of and feelings of responsibility for their co-workers. Both aspects encompass actions that are validated (at various levels) as being good or right. It is in their attempts to orient themselves to and fulfil these actions that workers, indirectly, end up working longer and harder.