What about white-collar labourers sweating it out in air-conditioned skyscrapers?

‘We’re the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War’s a spiritual war… our Great Depression is our lives.’

The iconic dialogue delivered by Brad Pitt’s Tyler Durden in the movie Fight Club continues to resonate as a sizeable number of young people are engulfed by corporate drudgery for survival. This dilemma has come to the fore again with the demise of a young chartered accountant employed at EY in Pune.

Close on the heels of the tragic incident, a 38-year-old software engineer from Chennai allegedly took his life by electrocuting himself. He was said to be under treatment for depression and reports claimed that he had complained of extreme work pressure.

It appears that the majority of the netizens stood in solidarity with the family of the deceased in both these incidents, and there is public outcry for reforms in the corporate world aimed at preventing such maladies in the future. But a minority opinion was also doing the rounds in comment boxes to the tune that ‘why opt for such high key jobs, if you are unable to bear the pressure?’, ‘If you don’t have the mettle, then stay at home’, etc. The fringe opinion received an unexpected reassurance when the Union finance minister said that children should be taught at home and educational institutions to handle pressure.

The theories and movements revolving around workers’ rights gained traction in the aftermath of the Industrial Revolution. When we celebrate the historic ‘eight-hour workday’ movement in the form of International Workers’ Day every May 1, what comes to our mind by default is the premises of a huge rustic factory, where workers are engaged in hard physical labour. Though in the decline with the progress of technology and decentralised labour practices, such heavy industries exist, and we need to talk more about the rights of the workers employed therein.

But what about the white-collar workers ‘sweating’ in air-conditioned skyscrapers? Or in cramped co-working spaces? Or even from the ‘comfort’ of their homes? Where do they fit in during the debates about labour rights? Going by the fringe theory, are they supposed to suffer in silence as they are outside the classical definition of a worker doing ‘hard labour’?

The question is why people, despite acquiring top-notch educational qualifications, are forced to work under unfair conditions. While defining the similar plight of the industrial worker, Karl Marx observed that they are under the constant threat from an army of unemployed standing outside.

Likewise, the current-day corporate employees might be constantly browbeaten by the jobless (or job-loss) economy we are faced with, aggravated by the rise of artificial intelligence and other forms of automation. Moreover, nowadays young people are forced to shoulder financial burdens from an early stage compared to bygone days. It's easier said than done to quit work, irrespective of the level of stress. Try advising a depressed executive to choose life over work, when the EMIs are around the corner. Finding an alternative job by discarding the current one is no cakewalk. What good is it to move from the frying pan into the fire as exploitative conditions are becoming omnipresent?

We need to redefine the concept of ‘work’ and ‘worker’, and reimagine things more humanely. As a starter, the onus should be shifted from the worker who are forced to undergo neck-breaking stipulations to the employer who is forcing the worker to undergo such trauma. Rather than exacting eternal hours of quantitative work, at the cost of personal life, why can’t the employer ensure quality hours of productivity and positivity for employees? The concept is not novel, and the idea is picking up steam with the introduction of four-day work week, etc. in several countries and organisations. This has proven to be beneficial for the employers as well since the employees were found to be merrier and thus fruitful.

While we return to the question of redefining the ‘worker’ of our times, larger solutions are required without limiting it to the four-day work-week question. Adam Smith, the great apostle of the capitalist economy, defined work as an activity compelling the worker to give up “his tranquility, his freedom, and his happiness.”

Wages, according to Smith, are the reward the labourer receives for their sacrifices. On the contrary, Marx and Friedrich Engels saw work as central to human existence. For Marx, a key goal of socialism would be to abolish ‘the miseries of work and the way of life arising from capitalism’.

Marx’s contribution in this arena has been stylishly summarised by Terry Eagleton as ‘Marx’s work is all about human enjoyment’, in his book ‘Why Marx was Right’. While emphasising the current significance of Marx’s writings, Eagleton says that ‘those who work in call centres are just as exploited as those who toil in coal mines. Lower-level white collar workers, who have no control over their labour are members of working class indeed.’ He pertinently opines in the book that ‘The great majority of men and women at this period are living lives of largely fruitless toil for the benefit of a ruling elite. Once these shackles on human flourishing have been removed, they are then a lot more free to behave as they wish, within the confines of their responsibility for one another.’

The control over one’s labour; it’s the baseline which differentiates the lives of an executive at the bottom rung of the corporate ladder with a workaholic CEO who never goes on holiday. This is the factor which alienates an employee from the work they are engaged in. This is our Great Depression. It’s a larger question, and there is a long road to go; but a hopeful one.

To begin with, let the current debate over work pressure pave the way to the creation of freer workspaces where the health, time, and dignity of an employee are honoured. There should be built-in safeguards against all forms of toxic trends. Let there be a work culture where the individual is free from crippling pressures, enabling them to explore one’s true potential, without compromising obligations.

Let the creativity and productivity of the worker flourish hand-in-hand with the organisation they work for. Let there be an abundance of life.

(Ron Bastian is a practising lawyer in the High Court of Kerala.)

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.