Opus Dei
(Saint Josemaría)
Work as enduring human activity
Reflections on the value of human work from Pope John Paul II, Msgr. Fernando Ocariz, and St. Josemaria Escriva. First published in BusinessWorld, 1 June 2021.
In the Philippines
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Those who are trying to fathom the future of work after the pandemic are focusing inordinately on the technical and technological aspects of work. There is much talk about remote work (work from home), hybrid work (a combination of working at home and at the office), the digitalization of communications and transactions, acceleration of the so-called Industrial Revolution 4.0 (Artificial Intelligence, robotization, Internet of Things, Big Data), etc. We should not forget, however, that work is, first and foremost, a human activity. As St. John Paul II wrote in his encyclical “On Human Work”:
Thousands of current and former employees - mostly women - at Britain s largest retailer have accused it of paying them £3 per hour less than their contemporaries working at distribution centres.