Utopia for Realists: How We Can Build the Ideal World

by Rutger Bregman

It all starts with reversing incentives. Currently, it’s cheaper for employers to have one person work overtime than to hire two part-time.54 That’s because many labor costs, such as healthcare benefits, are paid per employee instead of per hour.55 And that’s also why we as individuals can’t just unilaterally decide to start working less. By doing so we would risk losing status, missing out on career opportunities, and, ultimately, maybe losing our jobs altogether. And employees keep tabs on each other: Who has been at their desk the longest? Who clocks the most hours? At the end of the workday in almost every office you can find exhausted staff sitting at their desks aimlessly browsing the Facebook profiles of people they don’t know, waiting until the first of their coworkers has left for the day. Breaking this vicious circle will require collective action–by companies or, better yet, by countries.

Incorrect valuation by capitalism