The Happy Worker, or How Work Was Sabotaged

Canadian Premiere

Keynote Speaker: Liudmila (Lucy) Jdanova, Department of Psychology, KPU

John Webster explores how the workplace has transformed to the point where the very idea of productive work appears to be the last thing on people’s minds. How did we reach this point? The simple, straightforward notion of work has been hijacked by senseless jargon, endless meetings about nothing, and activities that appear to go against the possibility of a successful, satisfying workday. With commentaries by the late, great anthropologist and activist David Graeber, psychologist and pioneer of burnout research Christina Maslach, and a variety of office workers and executives, Webster not only explores an environment that results in lower productivity, but a culture of silence that accompanies it. Provocative and frequently hilarious, The Happy Worker, or How Work Was Sabotaged is a white-collar call-to-arms.