Work: Right or Privilege?

Labor Day felt different this year. It ended a summer distinctly lacking in the season’s usual lightness of heart, and it heralded a school year unlike any in memory. 

The U.S. Department of Labor tells us Labor Day is “a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.” 

At Hired, Labor Day gave us a moment to reflect not only on the importance of our work but, more personally, on the privilege to work.

We are the lucky ones. At the most basic level, having a job means we can pay our rent or mortgage this month, feed our kids, and gas up the car. For many in our community right now, this is not the case.

Hired moved from face-to-face to virtual operations within a week, even before Gov. Walz issued his stay-at-home order in March. As an organization that serves unemployed people, we are essential workers. But we have been able to serve our community from home, in part, because our staff are equipped with the technology to do so. 

Having computers and being able to work from home — without risking one’s own health or the health of one’s family — are privileges.

Those of us with health concerns have been able to see our doctors, get tested for COVID and take care of our family members’ health, because we have employer-provided health insurance.

For now, access to healthcare and health insurance is a privilege.

Because Hired exists to provide individuals with coaching, tools, and training to join (or rejoin) the workforce, there are a lot of people who need our help right now. Fortunately, we can still see and talk with our participants. We can still connect them with education, virtual training, and job opportunities. Moreover, we can get them the supports — housing assistance, groceries, transportation, technology and more — they need to stay afloat until they get their next (or first) job. All this gives us a sense of purpose.

And, it turns out, having a sense of purpose is also a privilege. 

Hired’s mission is “to nurture purpose.” When so much feels so tenuous, when worries can keep us up at night, a sense of purpose is what gets us out of bed in the morning. 

This week is a time to think about the hard-won privileges some of us enjoy as workers. It is also a time to consider those who have lost the privilege of working because of the pandemic — and those who, because of the systems engineered against them, have never had the privilege.