GEN412 “My business is in an extremely competitive industry. Is there anything wrong with demanding long hours and hard work from my employees?”  Hard work is in itself an admirable trait. It is true that the decree to the first man, “By the sweat of your brow shall you eat bread,” is presented as a curse, but the sages of the Talmud Pesachim 118a explain that it also contains a blessing: Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said, “When the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Adam, [this verse], his eyes flowed with tears. He said to Him,” Master of the universe, will I eat from the same trough as my donkey?” But when He said to him, “By the sweat of your brow shall you eat bread,” Genesis 3:19 he was consoled.  Untamed nature is hostile to man and reduces him to a beast, eating the same food as a donkey. But man has the ability to perform directed work that refines and improves nature. Through hard physical work as well as intellectual labor (thus “the sweat of your brow”), complex human cultivation and processing of wheat makes into bread. Our lifestyle based on the highly developed products of human labor distinguishes us from the beasts. We see, too, that Jacob was proud of the dedicated service he gave his father-in-law, telling his wives, “I served your father with all my might.” Genesis 31:6  The Torah is concerned that man may be reduced to a mere working machine. To this end, the Ten Commandments specifically gives the Sabbath day as a day of rest for everyone—the Torah further tells us that we are not to give our servants “crushing work,” Leviticus 25:43 and this ethical principle applies to ordinary workers as well. Sefer Ha-Hinnuch 346.  Where do we draw the line between admirable and excessive work? According to Jewish law, this distinction is not based primarily on how much exertion is involved. The nature of the work is just as important. In particular, we have to be careful not to assign work that is gratuitous or demeaning. GRATUITOUS LABOR  Rashi’s commentary on the Torah explains the definition of crushing work is “work which is unnecessary, in order to dominate him. [For instance,] Don’t tell him, “Warm this cup”, when you do not need it.” It goes without saying that open busy-work (demanding unneeded tasks) is demeaning, but Rashi goes on to explain that it is improper even when the servant does not know the work is not necessary. The average employee probably does not need to be told that giving busywork is not the best way to show respect to employees, but many modern workplaces, especially the 24/7 variety, exhibit various kinds of hidden busy-work. These can violate the spirit of Jewish law and also can be counterproductive.  This kind of overtime can encourage employees to take “under time.” This is a term coined by Tara Parker-Pope of the Wall Street Journal for all of the tricks employees use to pretend they are on-the-job when they really taking care of personal affairs. For example, in large corporations in one country, it used to be the custom that in the early evening the managers would all leave the office. But they didn’t head home to their families; instead they went together to a local bar. And woe betide any aspiring manager who dared skip this nightly ritual! It goes without saying that not much work was accomplished on these jobs, but an employee who did not participate was nearly sure to be passed over for advancement. While this is an extreme example, employers and high-pressure workplaces would do well to review the demands they make on their workers. Most of what the workers do is probably needed, and it’s certainly legitimate to cultivate a professional and collegial atmosphere. For instance, face time, dress codes, and occasional company social gatherings are certainly not gratuitous. But if there is an ongoing pattern of norms that exist only to display assiduousness, then there is a good chance that you are imposing “crushing work” on your employees. An example would be if the employees are ashamed to be the first to leave the office, even if they have finished their work satisfactorily. Human beings naturally have a limited ability for effective work. Anyone can stay in the office for 24 hours, but few can accomplish more than ten or twelve hours of genuinely productive activity. So if the employer is careful not to demand gratuitous sacrifices from employees, the other aspects of a balanced workplace, including providing adequate opportunities for family life and personal development, will often take care of themselves. INTRUSIVE DEMANDS Many managers today do not really work very hard. They’re usually no more than 10 hours a day in the office, and they’re home by seven-thirty, or at the latest eight. Of course, sometimes they have to make one or two phone calls in the evening, but that’s not a major demand. Of course, they can enjoy a leisurely game of golf on Sunday (with a client); but is it really such a burden to glance at your email on your personal digital assistant between holes? That’s dead time anyway. The results of all of these demands is that while the actual amount of work is no more than fifty or sixty hours a week, the employee is effectively on call for 24 hours a day. Jewish law and tradition strongly emphasize the need to have part of the week, and part of each day, which are completely inviolable. Each week has Shabbat, when we are not allowed to do work or even talk about it. The prophet Isaiah tells us that we will be worthy of delighting in God’s blessing if we observe the Sabbath appropriately: “If you turn away due to the Sabbath from doing your business on My holy day, and you call the Sabbath a delight, and honor what is holy to the Lord; to dignify it by refraining from your customary ways, pursuing your business and speaking of it.” Is not enough to avoid actual work; one day a week we need to refrain completely from all business pursuits and speech. And each day needs to have fixed times set aside for prayer and study, when no other considerations are allowed to intrude. The Shulchan Arukh states, “A person should establish a time for study, and this time should be rigid, so that he will not miss it even if he thinks he can make a great profit.” Shulchan Arukh, Orah Hayyim 155 We find in Jewish law that an indentured servant is exempt from most positive time bound commandments. He does not have to sit in the sukkah, for instance, even if he has the time to do so. Maimonides, Sofar 6:1.  The condition of servitude is intimately bound up with the idea that your time is not your own; it belongs to the master.  An employer should take steps to make sure that his employees are not reduced to slaves, with no time to call their own. The workplace routine should ensure that each employee has a reasonable amount of time each day and each week that is completely free of working intrusions. MEIR 190-193