The 40-hour week (paid hours including overtime) remains the average for males in full-time work in Australia and New Zealand.
For females in full time work the average is around 37 – 38 hours while the average for part-time workers in 20 hours a week. These survey numbers only covered paid hours and we know many people on salaries work more than the hours they are nominally paid for. We also have an increasing proportion of the working population now working for themselves (self-employed) and often working much longer hours than these.
Over our working life time these can add up to a substantial number of hours we spend at work. But for how many people does the job come some degree of dissatisfaction. Perhaps no statistic demonstrates dissatisfaction more than job-hopping tendencies and the growing extent to which people are changing careers as they change jobs, hoping to find something that they find more fulfilling.
To find satisfaction in our work and to be placed in a position where God can prosper our work, we first need to understand what Scripture teaches about work in general, as well as the responsibilities of both employer and employee.
General Biblical Principles
From the beginning, God instituted work.
“Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it” (Genesis 2:15).
The very first thing the Lord did with Adam was to put him to work for his own benefit. It was not a curse. However, after the fall of Adam, work was included in the curse and was made more difficult. Work is so important to our daily lives that God commanded us to, “work six days” (Exodus 34:21).
In the New Testament, Paul was even more direct concerning work: “If anyone is not willing to work, then he is not to eat, either” (2 Thessalonians 3:10). God’s Word implies that there is dignity in all types of work. It does not elevate one honest profession above another. Jobs are not merely tasks whereby workers can earn money; they are also a means by which workers can use their talents and abilities to develop character—godly character.
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