Pleasure at work - Is it possible?

Pleasure and work – two words that hardly seem to belong side by side (perhaps especially in the wake of COVID). Frustration and work, disappointment and work, toil and work; these seem more suitable bedfellows. But pleasure and work, is it really possible?

A thoughtful article from The School of Life (On the pleasures of work) suggests that the answer could be yes. Moments of pleasure, satisfaction, and maybe even joy, might be possible to find during our daily labour. The article opens with the observation that in the midst of the usual drudgery and monotony we do sometimes experience “signals of interest”, a moment here, or a hint there, that there might be something more to our work. But what that is “can be devilishly tricky to unearth”.

Nevertheless the article goes on to suggest five possible ways that we might experience joy and pleasure in our work. Firstly there is the joy of “ordering”, the pleasure “in the grandest and simplest of ways, of tidying things up”. Be it a supermarket worker stacking shelves, or an office bookkeeper compiling an end of month report, in many ways our work often attempts to bring some order to an otherwise chaotic set of circumstances.

Secondly there’s the joy of “understanding”. In and through our work we learn and develop skills, all the while growing in our understanding of the way a certain something in this world works.

Then thirdly there is the joy of “money-making”, “being rewarded in the most concrete way, financially, for grasping an aspect of life ahead of your peers”. It’s not simply about the money, but what the money symbolises – your ability to grasp what might be useful, helpful or beneficial to other people and make it available.

“Serving” is a fourth pleasure to be gained from work. Perhaps even “the most intense pleasures available in the working world” come from serving others the article suggests. For those who receive the fruits of our labour, “it’s not a mystery what they need. You’re not trying to invent a new kind of coffee or a special way of cooking eggs. But it’s a delight to be able to bring these well-honed solutions to this person in just the right way”. There is pleasure in serving.

Finally there’s the joy of collaborating, “the pleasure of being part of a team”. That sense of camaraderie, working together to achieve a shared goal. And as you work together you discover that where you might be weak other colleagues are strong. “Collectively a disparate group of people become more impressive than they each could be on their own”.

These are profound observations from the world of work. Some (perhaps all) would resonate with each one of us. But while we can observe these pleasures as this article so helpfully does, this doesn’t help us to solve the deeper question. What is the source of this joy? It’s that which is the “devilishly tricky” thing to unearth. But if we could unearth it…perhaps that might pave the way to even greater pleasure in our work…

Interestingly the Bible speaks of joy and satisfaction and pleasure in our work. “A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work” (Ecclesiastes 2:24). But where does this satisfaction come from? The next sentence explains: “This too, I see, is from the hand of God”. Satisfaction, pleasure and joy in our work is a gift from God.

Right from the start of the Bible work is seen as a gift from God. God is a worker, making humanity in His image to work (Genesis Genesis1:26-28, 2:15). The world is God’s gift to us to fashion, and develop, and remould so that through our labour people might benefit from our handiwork, communities might flourish.

And as we work in this way our labour can be deeply satisfying. We bring order to chaos, a very God-like act (Genesis 1:2). We gain fascinating and exciting insights into the intricacies of how God’s world works. We enjoy the blessing of serving others and seeing them flourish, benefiting from our labour. And the Bible teaches that it is through our work that God provides the daily provisions that we need (Ecclesiastes 2:24, 3:13).

So why then do we not experience more of this pleasure in our work? The writer of Ecclesiastes has an answer to this question also. Pleasure departs from our labour when we no longer receive our work, and the benefits that transpire from it, as gifts from God. Instead when God is left out of the picture we set the responsibility upon ourselves of gaining what we need to live. Our work becomes selfish rather than selfless, and drudgery follows. Instead of being an arena in which to receive gifts from God, our work becomes a means of selfish gain. The writer of Ecclesiastes paints a bleak picture of what this looks like: “I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me. And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the work into which I have poured my effort and skill under the sun. This too is meaningless…What does a man gain for all the toil and anxious striving with which he labours under the sun?” (Ecclesiastes 2:18-19, 22, emphasis mine).

So indeed pleasure and work should go hand in hand. Satisfaction and joy should be a part of our daily labour. The key is whether we see our work in terms of an arena for selfish gain, or recognise the hand of God behind all our labour, that He made it as a means for us to serve and benefit others, and through it He might gift us with all our daily needs. This is the “devilishly tricky” thing which we need to unearth to pave the way for pleasure in our work.