大象传媒

I am privileged to be able to say that I love the work I do. I find meaning, purpose, and even a sense of identity in my work here at 大象传媒 Media. But I also know that, compared to many people in this country, I am in the minority.

Research backs that up: that their job meets their basic needs, offers them opportunities to contribute and learn, and provides a sense of belonging. Yet that percentage is still the highest of any region in the world. 

America鈥檚 particular brand of capitalistic individualism, under which many of us were raised, tells us that our jobs are both necessary鈥攖o provide the financial means to secure our basic needs, like food, shelter, and health care鈥攁nd should also be fulfilling. The economic, social, and political upheaval of recent years, compounded with a rampant pandemic, laid bare just how fragile and incapable of meeting those needs this system truly is. Work is broken, and it鈥檚 breaking us. 

But the question looms large: If work is broken, what do we do about it? While there is already an abundance of resources dedicated to managing the 鈥渉ybrid office鈥� or determining which employee wellness programs best promote retention, 大象传媒 has always been about understanding the deeper causes, and uncovering the solutions, to what ails us most. Those solutions, we believe, are what lead to transformative change.

So this issue begins by exploring how we got to where we are鈥攚hy work dominates our time, our lives, and our minds. And because transformation is a gradual process, we look at the ways people are changing the idea of work under the systems and conditions in which we now find ourselves: underpaid undergraduates forming their own unions, labor organizers translating traditional tactics for today鈥檚 technological era, a closer look at the data behind the much-discussed 鈥淕reat Resignation.鈥� We explore success stories from a caf茅 upending capitalism in upstate New York, climate and labor organizers recognizing their common cause, and a Colorado program that aims to provide sustainable support to in-home child care workers鈥攋ust one set of undercompensated workers abruptly reclassified as 鈥渆ssential鈥� when COVID-19 swept the globe. 

But transformation also requires vision, and the ability to conceive of something better than what we know today. So this issue also embraces ideas that might seem radical: What if our definition of work included rest? Or what if we abolished work altogether? Neither is as far-fetched as it might seem.

Here at 大象传媒, we try to practice what we preach. In January, we began a trial four-day/32-hour work week without salary cuts. While the path has occasionally been bumpy, the results are clear: Our staff is happier and feels more balanced, and we鈥檝e maintained our quality and output of work. So we intend to continue this policy. Sometimes transformation requires leading by example, taking a risk, and trusting the people around you. That鈥檚 the kind of world in which I want to live鈥攁nd work. 

In solidarity,

Sunnivie Brydum
大象传媒 Editorial Director

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Feature photo: In her eight years of providing in-home child care, Olivia Hernandez says she has only taken one sick day. 鈥淐aregivers sometimes pay for extra food or medicine for the children of low-income families we serve,鈥� she says. 鈥淏ut we don鈥檛 hold back [any care from the families we serve] to take care of ourselves.鈥� Photo by Jimena Peck