Restoring the purpose of work in the 21st century
 By Sarah-Leah Pimentel

I am tired, exhausted in fact. 

Since the start of October, I’ve had a gruelling work schedule. My company downsized recently. As a member of our executive team, I’ve had to become project manager, recruiter, HR manager, task designer, trainer, quality assurance lead, finance department, and part-time translator. I jump from one task to another all day, mostly putting out fires and meeting product delivery schedules.

The days and weeks have flown past in a mindless blur. I have barely spoken to my friends. My family is frustrated with my lack of attention. Very uncharacteristically, to those who know me, I have no idea what is happening politically in South Africa or the world. I’m a walking zombie functioning on about 5 hours of sleep a night. 

In those moments when I’m boiling a kettle (for yet another cup of coffee), I find myself wondering what the point of it all is. At the top of my mind is the need for a salary. I have bills to pay, and the price of food keeps climbing. And I still have 20 years before retirement, if our generation can even afford to retire.

I’m not alone with these thoughts. We all experience them when we feel that we’re overworked, underpaid, and tired. We’d all like more leisure hours to pursue our favourite hobbies or spend more time with family and friends. 

In contrast, the modern workplace wants us to be more efficient – by doing more with less. I truly fear for the Gen Zs who are entering the world of work for the first time. They’re not only competing with other workers for a chance to prove themselves. They’re competing with AI systems that are already replacing repetitive and mundane tasks. The argument is that technology handles the mindless tasks, allowing us to work creatively. From the perspective of someone who does thinking work all day, mundane routine tasks are necessary to clear the mind for creative thought. 

Despite advances in technology, large corporations are still people-hungry. A new work culture is emerging—the 996 job. Companies require employees to work from 9 am to 9 pm for 6 days a week. They provide housing because they always want work teams on site. They order pre-prepared food for staff to save the precious time taken by shopping or cooking. They organise on-site entertainment so that workers don’t have to go out to look for social interaction. These are sold as benefits, not modern-day slavery.

The 18th-century Industrial Revolution is remembered for the exploitation of factory workers. Today’s factory workers are highly skilled graduates competing with technology for the luxury of a job, or low-skilled workers who need to hustle two or three jobs to make ends meet. Meanwhile, large corporations enlarge their profits while cutting costs, often at the expense of people. 

Rerum Novarum, an encyclical by Pope Leo XII in 1891, was a response to the emerging socialist worldview and Marxist critiques of private ownership. Much of its language appears outdated and alarmist over practices that have become standard in the 21st century. But it holds a timeless warning about the dignity of workers. The encyclical cautions against an unchecked “expansion of industrial pursuits” while disregarding the “utter poverty of the masses” (RN 1). Poverty today could also include poor mental health and isolation due to work pressures, chronic indebtedness to pay off educational opportunities, home loans, and medical cover, and the fatigue of being constantly accessible to employers outside of working hours. 

We need to rethink the value of work. Work should enable us to support ourselves and our families. Work should be purposeful, rather than merely increasing corporate earnings. Work should serve humanity, rather than humanity feeding the work machine. 

The encyclical further warns: “What advantage can it be to a working [person] to obtain the means of a society material well-being, if it endangers his soul for lack of spiritual food?” (RN 57)

Our bodies are not tired from long hours on a factory floor. Our souls are exhausted from the unsustainable demands of our work. We need a new Rerum Novarum that addresses the spiritual challenges of the labour landscape today. It must challenge the endless pursuit of more. Instead of “more,” perhaps we should reconquer the wisdom of “enough.”