Thought #50: The #OpenToWork Trap and the End of Permanent Employment

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For weeks now, I’ve been seeing those green frames everywhere on LinkedIn: #OpenToWork.

People write about working faithfully for ten or fifteen years in the same company. Then comes a restructuring—and they’re out on the street overnight. They’re left standing in the ruins, asking themselves: Who am I even without my job?

Mira and I experienced this exact thing last year. We were looking for instructors back then. In the process, we met countless top-educated academics. Women with great degrees who simply can't get a permanent job anymore.

The old promise is broken. Hard work doesn't give you security anymore.

David Graeber nailed it in Bullshit Jobs: The positions that still exist are often completely meaningless. People only cling to them because they see no alternative. They're afraid.

And what do the consultants and coaches on LinkedIn advise? "Be flexible! Learn AI! Adapt!" They shift the blame completely back onto the individual.

That is completely wrong. The system of wage labor is collapsing right now. AI, climate change and resource scarcity are rewriting the rules entirely. We have to stop running even faster in the hamster wheel. We have to build our own networks of solidarity. That’s exactly what we do at UNO.TEAM: we create spaces where the human being counts—not the boss’s stamp of approval.

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Something to think about

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