The pursuit of dignity

On dictionary entries, crossword puzzles, and the imprecision of "factory jobs" as a cure-all

With more words at our disposal than is the case for almost any other language, it's generally a shame and an unforced error when someone says something in English but fails to use a precise word. The public consciousness is crowded with talk about "factory jobs" right now, but it's largely a misuse of the language to describe what people are actually seeking.

■ To be more precise, what most people want aren't really jobs on an assembly line. What they want are jobs that are dignified, and the distinction is important.

■ Work itself is inherently a pursuit of dignity: One exchanges their time and effort in return for compensation. But there are several layers of dignity embedded in the exchange.

■ People crave a sense of usefulness. It is dignified to be needed by other people. Nobody wants to feel disposable.

■ People also tend to seek opportunities to solve problems. We didn't get to be apex predators by our size or brute strength. We got there by outsmarting and out-persisting our prey. That same instinct needs to be satisfied through on-the-job use of our knack for puzzles and problem-solving. If the only stimulation a working person's mind gets is playing a game of Sudoku or finishing a crossword puzzle, then their job isn't landing them in front of enough opportunities to solve problems.

■ And people need to feel like they've been compensated fairly. The best way to get there is by maximizing the gap between a job's compensation and what the worker gives up to get it. Compensation can take non-money forms, of course; lots of work comes with social status or respect, or it is rewarded with gratitude from a customer or client well-served. The key is to get the input and output lines as far apart as possible.

■ Preemptively focusing policies on a specific type of work (like hourly factory line jobs) rather than on the factors people are really pursuing is a mistake we should be alert not to make. Dignified work looks a little bit different for everyone.