Hooked on work? Not all of us, and not all the time. In the past decade work galloped ahead of other priorities for many of us. For many people worklife more is fulfilling, empowering, consistent and controllable than their sex life. Better, in so many ways. A new generation works over the old arguments about work/life balance, shorter hours, longer hours, childcare, flexible shifts. It is important stuff and can easily raise temperatures and launch impassioned discussion.
When Catherine Fox and Helen Trinca set out to investigate the new world of work, they find a generation that looks to work for meaning as well as money. They find a world where workers are encouraged to clock on psychologically 24/7; a world where religion, community, family and intimate relationships are seen as peripherals to the main game; where the line between home and work is increasingly blurred. Its a world where work dominates and where, if you want to win, it's a good idea never to switch off.
The authors' focus has been on the big end of town, the corporations where work is being reshaped by by globilisation and new technology and where working hard and long has taken on a whole new meaning. Better than sex is about what you're trading off in your love affair with work, and what you can do to change the deal.
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