My son tweeted this morning about spending a tough night with a couple of friends (technical writers) who were just laid off. He has been working independently rather than for a production company most of his career and his life style is probably what more and more of us have to look forward to. At one time, he valued the opportunity and flexibility working for yourself allowed. He happens to be pretty good at what he does, but the stress of finding the next gig is always there.
If we are moving in this direction, I really wonder what happens when being hired as a temp to complete specific assignments becomes the norm. My fear is that a new normal will only increase the power/wealth/creativity gap. When most folks must scramble to find the next task, those who now relish their opportunities to be creative will find themselves in a much different situation. Creativity without security is not that common. Must be a Maslow hierarchy thing or something.
I know there is a similar trend in education. Tenure and security are out – possibly victims of public sentiment that regards those with secure positions as free loaders taking advantage of the system. Funny as I comment this morning (Saturday) on this topic there are three people in their offices on my floor – average age about 60.
High standards, new ideas, and creativity – supposedly what we need to compete and advance. Is that what you get when those with the most experience must accept their assignments from administrators with their own agendas? There really is a very significant difference between the commitment you see in those who work to live and those who live to work. Working to live means you complete assigned tasks and then go home. Living to work means you take a break to complete a blog post because you can and then you return to what you do weekend or not. Some of us are lucky.
