LeadershipHQ Magazine 3rd Edition September Issue | Page 20

The rising
value of
time
by Adele Blair

Ever since a clock was first used
to synchronise labour in the 18th
century, time has been understood
in relation to money. Once hours
are financially quantified, we worry
more about wasting, saving or using
them profitably. When economies
grow and incomes rise, everyone’s
time becomes more valuable. And
the more valuable something
becomes, the scarcer it seems.
When we are paid more to work, we
tend to work longer hours because
working becomes a more profitable
use of time. So the rising value of
work time puts pressure on all time.
Leisure time starts to seem more
stressful, as we feel compelled to
use our timely wisely or not at all.
While we might be earning more
money to spend, unfortunately
we are not simultaneously earning
more time to spend it in.
20 | © LeadershipHQ 2015

This makes time—that frustratingly
finite, unrenewable resource—feel
more precious.
Living at warp speed
No one would disagree that we
are living at a hectic pace. Greater
demands are being placed upon
us by employers, clients, family
and friends to immediately read
and respond to everything within
a nano-second. Whilst technology
has added enormous value to our
lives it has also become a hazard!
Once upon a time, a family’s
biggest technological nuisance was
the phone ringing during dinner
or late at night. Twenty-four hour
TV programming, the Internet and
mobile phones didn’t permeate the
inner sanctum of the home. School
stayed at school, work stayed at
work, and those boundaries weren’t
crossed except in an emergency.

Nowadays work doesn’t end when
the office doors have closed.
Companies equip their employees
with smart phones and laptops
so they are constantly accessible
with the expectation to respond
immediately (whether instructed or
implied) is eating into leisure time.
According to AMP.NATSEM Income
and Wealth Report “30% of men
and 11% of women are working at
7am in the morning, with one in
size men and one in seven women
working at 7pm in the evening”.
This is further reported in the
AMP.Natsem Income and Wealth
Report - Race against time, How
Australians spend t Z\