ALL DAY LONG by JOANNA BIGGS

 ALL DAY LONG

by

JOANNA BIGGS

A PORTRAIT OF BRITAIN AT WORK

THE BLURB:

What do people do all day? How does work affect our lives? And what happens when we don't work? From Westminster to the Outer Hebrides, Joanna Biggs travels the country to find out who we are through what we do.

THE REALITY:

This piece of non-fiction serves as learning material for something I'm really interested in. Unemployment always gets a mention in society, and underemployment has also become a big issue in the past 20 or so years. I'm also investigating whether underemployment and overeducation can actually be a blessing in disguise, as a failed career does have the potential to push an individual onto a different trajectory, possibly resulting in happiness- or not. It's my job, as I see it, to investigate this.

I have long recognised the fact that the hiring process nowadays is flawed to the state of being egregious- with many online applications simply falling into the ether. And don't get me started on processes such as unpaid internships (or modern slavery, as I prefer to call them...) But that's an investigation for a different day. Back to the book and I love that this gives an insight into what we do at work and how rewarding it is from an entirely unbiased perspective, and hats off to the author for doing that. I have strong opinions on employment in Britain and what it means today, but when I do write about it I will have to make sure that my passions come across as coming from the head and not the heart. I now fully understand what Gillie Bolton (she lectures on using writing as therapy) meant by “the writer's bleeding heart must be kept off the page.” Before I didn't, and insisted that the writer's bleeding heart must be kept on the page, as we connect via emotions. But, in fiction, the emotions must come from the character, not the writer. And, in non-fiction, whilst it's excellent that the piece is driven by the heart, it must be written from a head point of view. I'm so glad that this book gave me the chance to think and unpack my previous thoughts.

This book will make you understand the background to what drives some people and the hard work involved in real success. You also pick up the various motivations involved across the board, and everyone needs that motovational element, no matter what the job. But it will also make you very angry when you see how badly those employed in “lowly” work or the unemployed are treated. It's always fascinated me that stupid employers expect people to be “passionate” about the most shitty job. Why can't these daft clowns realise that in many jobs people are simply there to do the work, earn the money and go home? (Actually, in the notes at the end, it would seem that one employer has certainly learnt this...) My God, it would appear that the working world is full of bullies, and insecure bullies (in the future, let me be the one to speak out about them- this author certainly does, very subtly and cleverly).

It's the quite matter-of-fact yet humane approach to this book that makes it so interesting. It's a book that should feature on every school curriculum.