Why Protecting the Health of Our Workers is the Most Prosperous Decision We Can Make
What creates a nation’s wealth? For over two hundred years, America’s economic system has operated on the premise that a nation is only as wealthy as her people are strong. That how a nation produces wealth is by producing more than enough to provide for her citizens. Therefore, we should make great strides to protect our greatest assets, by helping them to live, learn, and work towards healthy goals. We’ve built commerce on a foundation of free will, understanding that commerce works best when each side approaches the bargaining table by choice and both walk away satisfied. These premises are relatively new, and they were revolutionary when Scottish philosopher, economist, and writer Adam Smith proposed them. At the time Wealth was published, Europe was operating under the trade theory of mercantilism.
What is Mercantilism?
This theory states that nations should export more than they import, and accumulate money (gold) to make up difference. This is based on a view of wealth as finite, and only able to be accumulated at the expense of other nations. This perspective led, unsurprisingly, to increased warfare between nations, requiring their military forces to be constantly on active guard against other nations. The European governments would provide capital to certain producers in industries, create monopolies and enact laws to protect the favored producers. Often, new industries were exempt from taxes. Governments imposed levies, tariffs and quotas to ensure foreign imports were restricted or prohibitively expensive. Fatally, this had the effect of weakening the home country’s dollar by not competing with outside industries within the own country.
In contrast, Smith argues that this partnering between government and producers harms the market, which harms the overall population. He advocates for specialization, showing that it allows the market to scale and encourages competition, and thirdly, he demonstrates that trade, freely initiated, benefits both parties.
The Wealth of Nations contains much wisdom we simply take for granted today. Smith outlined that the source of wealth for a nation is its people, not its reserves of gold. He considered education to be necessary for all children, rich and poor alike; he advocated for the division of labor to maximize efficiency; and he advocated that people should be able to choose their vocation according to their talents and desires. The majority of the world’s nations have adopted his policies, and enjoy the enriched and lengthened the lives of their citizens as a result.
Learning
Smith advocated for the education of all youth. He writes that our differences lie mainly in “habit, custom, and education,” not in natural talent. He understood that education is one area we can each take into our hands to create a better solution to our problems.
The first three chapters of Wealth advocate for specializing in industry, as this allows for scaling to produce more supply, and keep costs down as it becomes more efficient over time. They also demonstrate that innovation is sparked by an individual acting in their own interest. A theme through the text, an individual’s choice to improve themselves or their surroundings is the most powerful motivator, and the best way to motivate people to make improvements is to protect that freedom of choice.
It is in some part due to Smith that we maintain the freedom to choose our path of education, and how long we will pursue it. Let us remember what a privilege it is to be able to learn freely, and not take that for granted. In this freedom is also an obligation to dedicate ourselves to improvement, and learning, a lifelong endeavor. Taking education to be both a gift and responsibility, we should approach education as the imperative tool that it is for development and improvement. Education – formal, informal, professional, and personal – should be encouraged by educators, business owners, and leaders across the board. The single best way to improve our nation, and her output, is to educate her people.
“Each individual becomes more expert in his own peculiar branch, more work is done upon the whole, and the quantity of science is considerably increased by it.”
Relationships
Americans would be wise to take to heart Smith’s advice regarding their relationship with work:
“It will be found, I believe, in every sort of trade that the man who works so moderately, as to be able to work constantly, not only preserves his health the longest, but, in the course of the year, executes the greatest quantity of work.”
Though Smith clearly advocated for a moderate approach to work over two hundred years ago, this notion is just beginning to find a receptive audience in America. It has only been in the last few years that we’ve really begun to understand the scientific requirements of rest. We know that we need time to recover, both mentally and physically. We now know that if we sleep fewer than eight hours each night we put ourselves at risk for chronic disease and shortened lifespans. We know that strength is actually built during recovery, and that our ability to recover is hindered by shortened sleep. If we want to live long, healthy lives, we must begin now to prioritize rest and sleep in our daily routines. The first step is to sleep eight hours every night, as this creates a foundation on which you can build for a lifetime.
Secondly, we must find a pace which we can repeat indefinitely. This is not advocating working less intensely. Rather, I believe, he is calling for a schedule with margin. In the surrounding sentences, Smith gives examples of men working themselves quite literally to death or grave injury. This is obviously not a sustainable pace, and whatever short-term gain a worker may earn in that window is dwarfed by the need they create in becoming injured, incapacitated, or worse.
We have an overworking epidemic in America. We have laborers who put themselves in this kind of physical danger working demanding jobs. We have millions of first responders and military personnel who sacrifice their rest, and lives, to protect and help the rest of us. However, we also have millions of every day office workers who regularly work more hours than they sleep or rest, contributing to all manner of physical and mental health risks. We must take these risks seriously and begin to build rest into our schedules.
“Labor is the real measure of the exchangeable value of all commodities.”
Adam Smith
Sean McCabe over at seanwes has created and implemented an excellent solution: seventh week sabbaticals. The main idea is that employers will pay their employees to take off every seventh week from work, building rest and margin into the work schedule. This will allow six weeks of intense, dedicated work, followed by a week off, to repeat continually. Sean is currently writing a book on sabbaticals; his writing on the subject is available at sabbaticalbook.co. I, personally, have been taking every seventh week off since January, and can say it has made all the difference in being able to work hard at a sustainable pace.
It’s this balance which will preserve our mental, and physical health, and allow us to produce more work, as Smith notes. Completing seven weeks’ work in six weeks, then taking a week free from obligation to recover, and resume working hard is a practical solution to the need to produce high quality work every week. Attempting to do so with no break or end in sight is the fast-track to burnout, mental fog, and depression. Protecting your time and recovery is a vital step to being able to work well for years or decades.
Leadership
Smith makes an unfortunate observation in reference to the employer- employee relationship that,
“The workmen desire to get as much, the masters to give as little as possible.”
While I have certainly experienced working for a grumpy, tight-fisted employer, I have also had the wonderful experience of working with owners who genuinely care about their employees as people, and want to do right by their employees, to include paying generously. The concept of business owners paying their employees a reasonable wage, and giving them the time away that they need is not unheard of. It is a reality for some, and I hope it continues to take hold, displacing the commonly distrustful company owners.
This relationship-at-odds creates an “us v them” mentality and sows dischord within a company. The entire relationship really boils down to treating your team, whether they are employees or another capacity, as people. Make decisions you can be proud of, and treat people as you would like to be treated. Leadership often comes down to making the tough, but moral decisions, rather than just trying to bank on what may end up succeeding.
Smith does wryly note that the employers need employees more than the reverse, a gentle directive to owners to not take employees for granted.
The Future is Bright
While we have certainly made remarkable progress in the last two hundred years since Smith published Wealth, now is not the time to slow down. We are learning so much more about how the human body and mind work, and we should use this information to make the healthiest long-term choices possible. Prioritizing education, both formal and informal, taking time to rest and recover properly, and making excellent decisions with your team in mind are lessons which will allow all of us to continue succeeding and building real wealth, people.
Ed. note: This is entry is the eighteenth in a series looking at the three schools of philosophy for perspectives on relationships in our modern world. Inspired by Emerson’s “The American Scholar,” we are exploring timeless wisdom which endures to inform our approaches to learning, relationships and leadership. Click here for all the posts in this series.
