What do you do? (More importantly…do you like it?)

Happy Hump Day! (Happy Wednesday–corporate or office lingo)

Take a look at the following list: benefits, burnout, self-fulfillment, dream job, entrepreneur, employee, motivation, to take a risk, paycheck to paycheck, routine, mindless, to be on your toes, overtime, wage/salary, ideal…

First task: Sort the words. Which words have a positive connotation and which words have a negative connotation, a neutral one?

Next…can you add to the list? What are other words that you know that are related to the topic of ‘work’ (a very broad category- so feel free to create links by drawing a mind-map).

Discussion questions
Are you ready to discuss/think about this topic even further?

1. In Canada, it is common for people to ask “What do you do (for a living)?”*
So this first question is for you- What do you do? Can you tell me how you ended up in this job?

Follow-up question: do you enjoy what you do?

2. What do you think are the easiest jobs? What about the most difficult jobs? Why?

3. When you were a child/younger, what did you aspire (want/dream) to be?

At this point in the discussion we will talk about the following things: “the great resignation”; “anti-work”; the ideal workplace; how “work” has changed in the present time.

Read or watch the following for context (yes the YouTube link is Michelle Phan doing makeup while talking about the topic -very insightful, too!)

These links are higher B2, C1/C2 reading; if you like, you can also find some articles written in your language about the topics OR find another article with easier language.

https://hbr.org/2021/09/who-is-driving-the-great-resignation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtSYLIlUTYg

4. What is the ‘great resignation’? Is ‘the great resignation’ a problem in your country?

5. Why do you think people are quitting their jobs, in the midst of a pandemic?

6. What is your ideal work environment/conditions? Why? On the other hand, what are some things that would make you quit a job? Why?

7. What is the difference between working for a company and working for yourself? Which do you prefer?

8. What is a liveable wage? Do you think there is any amount of money that is worth an hour of our time? Do you think people are getting ‘robbed’ in ‘soul-sucking’ jobs?

9. What advice would you give to someone who is struggling to find work or looking for work?