Work and Play – Alvin House

(11-4-16)

What gives life meaning?

“a search for daily meaning as well as daily bread, for recognition as well as cash, for astonishment rather than torpor; in short, for a sort of life rather than a Monday through Friday sort of dying” Studs Terkel (Working, 1974, p. xiii)
“Work is love made visible” Kahil Gibran (The Prophet, 1923)
Occupational priorities: what people want from their employment
- to earn a living
- prestige
- social recognition
- social interaction
- self-expression
- personal growth
- service to others
- satisfaction/pleasure
Lips-Wiersma found four common meanings people derive from work:
- 1. developing self
- 2. union with others
- 3. expressing self
- 4. serving others
Hance organized beliefs of young college students and older returning students about work into three main categories
- 1. working to achieve social influence
- 2. working to achieve personal fulfillment
- 3. working due to economic reality
contemporary business theories tend to incorporate the concept that “meaning matters”
- French found that corporate executives who have alignment between their personal meaning and corporate values cared more about their employees’ happiness, job satisfaction, and emotional well-being
Occupation is a key element in a person’s sense of identity and self-efficacy
- work affects where you live, what friends you make, and the clothes you wear
- work is a major social role and influence in ad ut life
- occupation interacts with the other major influences of adult life: intimate and family relationships

The changing nature of work

Both the realities and the common perceptions of jobs, employment, careers changed
Globalization of economic markets, the financial crises of the past several decades, technological innovations, and the societal changes over the past century have all lead to fundamental changes in the expectations, attitudes, and assumptions people have about work
Related to these changes are our views of retirement, financial security in later life, and the role that should be played by the individual, the employer/company/corporation, and the government in these aspects of life

Occupational choice

Vocational choice can be approached from several perspective:
- interests (trait) models
- abilities (trait and skill) models
- values (experiential) models
- or various combination of the above
one of the first authors on the topic of vocational counseling was Parsons (1909), who proposed that in selecting an occupation, an individual should have:
- 1. A clear understanding of yourself, your attitudes, abilities, interests, ambitions, resource limitations, and their causes;
- 2. A knowledge of the requirements and conditions of success, advantages and disadvantages, compensation, opportunities, and prospects in different lines of work;
- 3. True reasoning on the relations of these two groups of facts
One of the most influential theories of vocational counseling has been Holland’s theory of occupational choice, sometimes referred to as the RIASEC model
- Holland’s theory addressed three question:
  - What characteristics of persons and environments lead to positive vocational outcomes?
  - What characteristics lead to career stability or change over the life span?
  - What are the most effective ways of providing assistance to people with career concerns?
- His premise is that career choice is an expression of personality — vocational interest inventories are personality tests
  - Holland’s four assumptions:
  - 1) most people can be described in terms of their resemblance to 6 personality types: characteristic attitudes and skills, & preferences for vocational & leisure activities, life goals & values, beliefs about oneself, and problem-solving style. Most people not a pure type but a combination of several types–one dominant and other types that are secondary.
  - 2) Environments can be categorized into the same 6 model types.
  - 3) “people search for environments that will let them exercise their skills and abilities, express their attitudes and values, and take on agreeable problems and roles” (Holland, 1997, p. 4).
  - 4) Personality and environment interact to produce behavior. Knowledge about the individual’s personality type and the type of environment allows predictions about vocational choice, job tenure and turnover, achievement, and satisfaction.
Holland’s occupational themes
- Realistic “doers”: likes to work with tools, animals, machines, likes to work outdoors; values practical things that can be seen and touched, grown, built, made better; sees self as practical, mechanical, realistic, conservative
- Investigative “thinkers”: likes to study and solve scientific and mathematical problems; values science; sees self as precise, intellectual, scientific, analytical, skeptical, intelligent
- Artistic “creators”: likes to do creative activities (art, drama, crafts, dance, music, creative writing); values the creative arts, emotions, ideas; sees self as expressive, original, independent, open to experience
- Social “helpers”: likes to do things to help people (teaching, counseling, nursing, giving information); values helping people, social service, and solving social problems; sees self as helpful, friendly, trustworthy, empathetic, patient
- Enterprising “persuaders”: likes to lead and persuade people, sell things and ideas; values success in politics, leadership, or business, values material accomplishment and social status; sees self as energetic, ambitious, sociable
- Conventional “organizers”: likes to work with records, number, or machines is a set, orderly way; values success in business; sees self as orderly, dependable, good at follow a plan
Holland’s six basic types of work environments:
- Realistic: work with tools, machines, animals; structured environments
  - farmer, forester, fire fighter, police officer, flight engineer, pilot, carpenter, electrician, engineer, mechanic, truck driver, locksmith
- Investigative: laboratory and technical careers; less structured environments
  - chemist, mathematician, meteorologist, biologist, dentist, physician, veterinarian, pharmacist, medical technician, architect, surveyor, electrician technician, psychologist
- Artistic: creative careers; unstructured environments
  - dancer, book editor, art teacher, clothes designer, graphic designer, comedian, actor, disk jockey, composer, musician, interior design
- Social: service careers; social environments
  - counselor, parole officer, social worker, dental hygienist, nurse, physical therapist, teacher, librarian, athletic trainer, clergy member
- Enterprising: business and management careers; social environments
  - auctioneer, sales person, travel agent, recreation leader, judge, lawyer, city manager, sales manager, bank president, TV newscaster, customs inspector, camp director, hotel manager, real estate agent, school principal, retail store manager
- Conventional: structured, orderly environments; office and business environments
  - court clerk, secretary, bookkeeper, bank teller, post office clerk, mail carrier, typist, title examiner, timekeeper, data entry, production editor

Occupational development

“moving up the ladder” — advancement in a career depends on professional socialization, which in turn reflects expectations, support from staff/coworkers/superiors, job satisfaction, opportunities, and broader economic factors in the society (and increasingly, world)
Super’s theory of occupational development (1957, 1980, 1992) proposed a stage model of occupational development based primarily on self-concept, identity development, and specialization
- Implementation: late adolescence, taking on series of temporary jobs, learning firsthand about work roles and trying out possible careers
- Establishment: young adulthood, selecting a specific career and moving up the career ladder in the same occupation
- Maintenance: transition phase during middle age, workers maximize their efficiency, begin reducing the amount of time spent fulfilling work roles
- Deceleration: workers begin planning in earnest for upcoming retirement and separating themselves from their work
- Retirement: people stop full time employment
more recent elaborations of this theory (Super 1992; Tracey et al., 2005) have slightly changed the stages:
- Crystallization, ages 14 to 18: adolescent begin to move from fantasy to realistic consideration of how their skills and interests could match up with the opportunities available to them, seek out information about careers, may discuss options with family or advisors
- Specification, ages 18 to 21: occupational choices become fore focused, educational or vocational training is sought for desired occupation
- Implementation, ages 21 to 24: completing education or training and entering the work force; dealing with discrepancy between ambitions and available jobs
- Stabilization, ages 25 to 35: establishing self in selected career, becoming more stable and experienced in the work they have entered
- Consolidation, age 35 and up: occupational development through increased experience and seeking advancement as expertise grows
Super suggested that people could be thought of as falling on a continuum of vocational maturity during their working years: the more congruent their occupational behaviors are with what is expected of them, the more vocationally mature they are
a limitation of Super’s theory is his assumption that we choose a career and remain in this career for the rest of our working life. Adults do not find they have unlimited choice in careers and many adults may have more than one career in their life today. While nearly half of all young adults would like to become professionals (lawyers or physicians), only about 1 in 7 achieves this goal (Cosby, 1974). Goal modification is common in the young adult years as “reality shock” (the realization that the real world of work does not work as we imagined or was told it does) sets in.
most young adults today will change careers at least once (Donahue, 2007) during their working life; also, women and and increasing number of men may take time off or have punctuated careers associated with having young children (Cinamon, 2006; Hochschild, 1990, 1998; van der Lippe et al., 2006); also, the proportion of young women who are employed outside the home has risen significantly, today over 71% of women of working ages are employed outside the home (U.S. Department of Labor, 2006)
the nature of work has changed with for some, with increased telework or telecommuting, “working at home”, and part time employment; both positive and negative aspects can be seen in all these societal changes
yet another change that challenges traditional models of vocational development across the lifespan has been the “graying of the workforce”, the median age of the workforce has steadily increased
–theories of career development that do not take into account these changes do not model well the career paths of today’s young adults
Mentors (part teacher, part sponsor, part model, part counselor; Heimann & Pittinger, 1996) play a role in the development of many professional and skilled occupations
- mentors can help the new worker avoid problems, pass on valuable information, model essential skills, make sure the protege is noticed and acknowledged for their work
- the two main functions of a mentor can be seen as improving the younger worker’s changes for advancement and supporting their psychological and social well-being (Eby & McManus, 2002; Linnehan, 2001)
sex differences: the availability of mentors is one factor suspected in the perpetuation of “glass ceiling” limitations on female advancement in some career paths
there my also be differences in the behavior of male and female mentors, with male mentors providing more career mentoring and female mentors providing more psychosocial mentoring (Allen & Eby, 2004)

Job satisfaction

Job satisfaction, “the positive feelings that result from an appraisal of one’s work” (Cavanaugh & Blanchard-Fields, 2011, p. 457) tends to increase with age
- self-selection suggests that people who like their work may stay with a job, whereas people who do not leave
- mindfulness and tolerance of your emotional states are associated with higher job satisfaction (Bond & Bruce, 2003; Thorsen et al., 2003); and older adults show a shift toward more positive emotional experiences
- older workers tend to be more satisfied with the intrinsic personal aspects of their jobs than with extrinsic aspects (pay) (Morrow & McElroy, 1987); white-collor professionals tend to show more increase in job satisfaction that blue-collar positions (Sterns et al., 1994)
- older workers have had more time to find a good fit with a job that they like (or have resigned themselves to reality that things are unlikely to improve), resulting in better congruence between expectations and experience
- as worker get older, work becomes less of a focus of their lives, both due to occupational success and to shifting focus of attention of emotional aspects of life (family, community, values)
- the stage of career development may affect satisfaction
- (possibly job satisfaction is cyclical)
Surveys have continued to show gender differences in occupational choice and development, opportunities, and pay
restricted ethnic diversity in some careers, the availability of ethnically matched mentors, and the so called “sticky floor” (Smith & Elliott, 2002)–where one’s ethnic group dominates only entry-level positions and leadership opportunities are similarly restricted to supervising entry-level workers continue to be issues in guarantying equal opportunities are available to all Americans
Alienation and burnout
- occupational alienation: a sense that activities are meaningless, your effects are devalued, you fail to see your contribution to the end goal
- burnout: depletion of person’s energy and motivation, loss of occupational idealism, feelings of being exploited; emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, diminished sense of personal achievement
- best defenses:
  - stress-reduction responses
  - lowering (moving toward realistic) performance expectations
  - enhancing communication within organizations
  - promoting teamwork and co-worker support
  - involvement in decision making (self-determination)

Leisure

“Finding coherence among work, love, and play is key to finding satisfaction and happiness in middle age.” (Thagard, 2010, p. 4)
- avocational activities
  - researchers sometimes divide leisure activities into four categories:
  - cultural: attending sporting events, concerts, religious services, meetings
  - physical: basketball, hiking, aerobics, gardening
  - social: visiting friends, going to parties, getting together with others at coffee house
  - solitary: reading, listening to music (alone), watching television (alone)
- alternatively leisure activities can be ranked in terms of cognitive, emotional, or physical involvement (Cavanaugh & Blanchard-Fields, 2011)
  - very high intensity: sexual activity, sky diving, highly competitive games or sports, dancing
  - moderately high intensity: creative activities, nurturance or teaching, serious discussions and analysis
  - medium intensity: attending cultural events, participating in clubs and social organizations, sightseeing or travel
  - moderately low intensity: socializing, reading for pleasure, light conversation
  - low intensity: solitude, quiet resting, taking a nap
- any specific activity will have different meaning and value for different individuals: cooking may be a leisure activity for one person and work for another
young adults tend to show more intense and a greater range of activities than do middle aged adults, who in turn show more range and intensive of leisure activities than older adults
- health, rather than aging per se, tend to be a major factor in developmental changes in leisure activities
- leisure activities are often very stable over the life span, with changes being primarily related to physical intensity demands
midlife adults may use vacation time to just do more of usual leisure activities, such as watching TV and other media, participating in sports, outdoor activities (fishing, hunting, camping), socializing with friends and family (Hall 2007); vacation may be a time to visit children and grandchildren; among middle and upper class adults of middle age traveling for vacations is more common (Westman & Etizon, 2011)
people of all ages tend to reported feelings of freedom and satisfaction during leisure activities
- physical health is better among individuals who take vacations (Gump & Matthews, 2000; Stern & Konno, 2009)
- you might recall that Panksepp argues tha PLAY is a basic emotional/motivational response in mammals, makes important contributions to social and individual adjustment, and has evolutionally selected for (Panksepp & Biven, 2012); play is serious business for both the quality and the quantity of our life

Retirement

planning for and adjusting to
- reason for retiring (Weiss, 2005; based on interviews with retirees)
  - wanting the freedom to do something new
  - family obligations
  - feeling too old for the job
  - illness or physical disability
  - disliking an aspect of the job
  - resolving conflict by retiring
  - being brought out
  - being nudged out or pushed out
  - retirement as an alternative to unemployment
- Postretirement income is a key factor in a voluntary decision to retire (Szinovacz & Deviney, 2000)
Adams & Rau (2011) suggest that two significant factors will increase the proportion of retirement funding borne by the individual:
- 1. the question of whether Social Security will continue to be a viable source of retirement income
- 2. the shift from the use of defined benefit retirement plans to the use of defined contribution plans
  - defined benefit plans guarantee a minimum, known dollar benefit to retirees for the remainder of their lives; risk of financial loss is assumed by the organization managing the fund (company, labor union, state or federal government)
  - defined contribution plans require the individual to make investment choices and bear the risk of financial loss
  - Adams & Rau cite data that the number of families with defined benefit plans has reduced markedly between 1985 and 2007 in the U.S., and report that this is paralleled across most industrialized countries. They suggest that in the coming decade:
    - a. there will be a large cohort of people entering retirement
    - b. the length of time they will spend in retirement will be longer [than past cohorts]
    - c. they will have greater individual responsibility for planning their retirement while such planning has become increasingly complex
- how to spend your time after retirement includes several options:
  - 1. continued paid work: often referred to as “bridge employment”, can take different forms, such as “phased retirement (continuing to work part time or with reduced work load) or full or part time employment in same or different field
    - an AARP survey of workers over 45 found that more than half planned to work during retirement, with 89% of these saying they would continue working even if they did not need the additional income (American Association of Retired Persons, 2002)
    - an estimated 60% to 64% of retirees continue in some form of paid work (Giandrea, Cahill, & Quinn, 2009)
  - 2. volunteer work: may include housework and caring for family, as well as formally volunteering outside the home in education, business, civic organizations
    - a 2004 AARP survey of people 38 to 57 years old reported 51% planning to devote more time to volunteer work
  - 3. leisure activities: characterized by enjoyment, companionship, aesthetic appreciation, intimacy, novelty, relaxation (Tinsley et al., 1993)
    - 70% of the AARP (2004) survey reported planning to devote “a lot” more time to a hobby or special interest after retirement
  - all of these can contribute to retirement satisfaction and meet needs formally fulfilled by work: structuring one’s time, opportunities for social interaction, opportunities for generativity, generating needed income
  - Adams & Rau (2011) cite studies that paid work, volunteer work, and leisure activities are all related to better mental and physical health, retirement satisfaction, and life satisfaction
  - research on retirement has often been based on image theory, role theory, continuity theory, resource, or the life course perspective
    - image theory suggests workers develop self-images that are based on past and current situations as well as on their future goals, and that these self-images determine their selection of actions that maintain their self-images
    - role theory suggests the transition from one role (worked) to another (retiree) will likely cause discomfort, and postretirement activity may facilitate adjustment by allowing a more gradual transition
    - continuity theory suggests that by maintaining both internal (values, beliefs) and external (activities, relationships) consistent patterns, people are able to adapt to life changes such as retirement
    - life course perspective takes a more holistic view, examining how past choices and experiences create a path to the individual’s current situation and influence future courses of action
    - resource theory suggests that the more resources (physical, cognitive, financial, social, emotional/motivational) available to an individuial, the more positive will be their adjustment to retirement
  - current and ongoing research on retirement focuses on demographic characteristics, individual differences, and situational factors influencing retirement choices and behavior
    - gender differences
    - retirement planning
    - health
  - “crisp” vs. “blurred” retirement (Mutchler et al., 1997): how people withdraw from full time employment
    - crisp: clean break by stopping work entirely
    - blurred: repeatedly leaving and returning to work, with some unemployment periods
- volunteer activities
  - “service” work can fulfill many of the needs/yield many of the benefits of employment: engagement with life
    - structure time
    - give meaning to life
    - provide opportunities for socialization
    - maintain cognitive skills
  - civic participation tends to peak around age 40 ( but has declined across age groups in recent decades Putnam, 2000)
    - factors often cited in this decline include:
      - dual-earner families
      - mobility and sprawl: we move more (both residences and travel time to work)–both cut into community involvement
      - television (and probably newer forms of mass media), but the internet has created new opportunities for connection and civic participation
      - individualism as a stance/philosophy: more focus on our personal interests and enjoyments rather than group activities and organizations