It’s Monday morning and here we are again.
For many of us work consumes a great deal of our waking lives. Whether you do the job you always dreamed of or something you have fallen into, our identities are undeniably shaped by how we earn a living.
But does anyone really know what you get up to when you are clocking up the hours? And do you know exactly what your closest friends and family members get paid for?
To gain a better appreciation of what work today actually involves, we are looking for people of all professions – from forensic psychiatrists to funeral directors; cleaners to call centre workers; prison officers to personal tutors – to write about what their working life is really like.
We want to know everything about what your role involves: how many hours you work; what your relationship with your boss is like; how exciting or annoying the procedures you have to carry out are; if politics impacts on what you do; when you feel most rewarded; if you take your work home with you.
Vast technological changes over the past few decades have changed the way we work dramatically – in your industry, do you think this is a good thing or do you seem to spend half your time emailing? While most people would claim they work hard, since the recession there has been the feeling that as cuts are made, jobs are getting harder – is this the case for you? Do you get paid enough?
Email a paragraph or two outlining what you would like to share about your job to cif.editors@theguardian.com with “The secret life of” in the subject line. Successful commissions will be published anonymously. And yes, you will be paid £90 for your troubles.
Now get to work.
