The work we do for free

I decided to revisit and revise a few older editions of Wishful Working — mostly to update some stats and add some new thoughts. Today’s newsletter was previously published as My Secret Second Job: Labor so invisible, even I didn't see it. 

At my last full-time job, I worked no more than 40 hours per week. I rarely worked on evenings or weekends. I generally enjoyed my day-to-day work, and I had supportive coworkers and a fun office culture.

And I still got super burned out.

There were a few reasons. First of all, the job was fast-paced, and constant context-switching and lack of breathing room in my schedule took a toll. Also, the pandemic was in full force. Enough said.

But something really clicked in my brain when I realized that although I was “only” working 40 hours per week, I was also working a dozen or more hours of unpaid “overtime” every week. 

Most of us are. 

In fact, many of us do so much unpaid labor, it’s the equivalent of a second job. Some refer to it as the “second shift.”

According to a Bureau of Labor Statistics time use survey, Americans spend an average of 1.92 hours per day on activities like food prep, cleaning, laundry, and household management tasks. That’s around 13.5 hours per week — a bit less (10.5 hours) if you’re a man, more (16 hours) if you’re a woman. 

Globally, across both developed and developing nations, the majority (around 76%) of unpaid domestic labor is carried out by women. According to the International Labor Organization, “Unpaid domestic care work would equal a substantial portion of global GDP if given an equivalent monetary value, exceeding 40% in some countries.”

(I will never forget this post I saw a few years ago, where a guy was like “Here’s how I earned my PhD and got promoted to CEO while having 6 kids,” followed by this long-ass thread of unremarkable productivity “hacks.” And not one single mention of his wife. He was rightfully roasted.)

Unless you have a certain degree of autonomy or the money to hire help, it’s hard to alleviate the burden of unpaid care work, chores, and household management. One of the best perks of being self-employed is being able to create my own ideal balance of client work, creative work, domestic work, leisure, and rest.

For many, working remotely is what provides a sliver of breathing room in the form of reclaimed commuting time and the opportunity to nap or run an errand or fold a load of laundry on your lunch break. It’s disappointing to see so many companies issuing return-to-office mandates instead of embracing flexible ways of working.

If you’re interested in a well-researched deep-dive into the topic of unpaid domestic labor and its shifting role in our lives, I highly recommend After Work: A History of the Home and the Fight for Free Time. 

See you next week,

Kara

Kara Detwiller is a writer based in small-town Saskatchewan. She specializes in long-form content writing for enterprise SaaS, cybersecurity, and manufacturing clients. She is also working on her first novel, among other creative pursuits. To connect, reply to this email or find Kara on LinkedIn or Bluesky. To support her work on Wishful Working, share this email with someone or buy her a “coffee.”

Why Wishful Working? I write this newsletter because I want to see more people enjoy a life not centered around work. For some, the path to freedom and flexibility is through self-employment, but we also need to challenge cultural norms and champion healthier working conditions and work/life balance for all types of workers.