Supported and amplified by social media, we are all being encouraged to expect life to be delivering way beyond what is ever likely to be reality.
For example, there is a movement to give people the idea that anything that has ever existed has a right to continue to exist.
We are encouraged to believe that, if there was ever a creature on the Earth, then it has a right be protected from extinction.
The reality is that 99% of all species which have ever lived on Earth, amounting to over five billion species, are estimated to have died out.
This has been happening for much longer than we have been around to supervise.
It is time to stop thinking in terms of any ability to save all species from extinction.
Likewise, it seems every person who has ever worked for the government has a right to continue to exist as a civil servant. If for any reason the particular job is no longer needing doing, apparently the government should find a new place for anyone made redundant.
Even where these jobs were temporary, or in fact had never even had someone filling the job, some seem to have the expectation that reducing the number of them is unacceptable.
That expectation would or at least should make the government extremely wary about opening up any new jobs, even where the new jobs are desperately needed.
Somehow we need to allow the expectation around the size and makeup of government departments to rise and fall and evolve with what we need the government to do for us, not some unrealistic ideas of the right to maintain a government job.
We also need to have a government which can choose the best person for a job, rather than having to play pass-the-parcel with government employees who are not suited for the job they are doing but are entitled to be retained in another government job if possible.
There is also an increasing expectation that work should fit in around home life, and that pay should not diminish if the work done diminishes.
Some of the newest generation looking for jobs are apparently expecting to have a job where the company they work for has values which align with theirs.
For some jobs, people can work from home productively, and, for some, work can usefully be done during school hours and not in school holidays or on teacher-only days.
And some may take comfort in working for the retail chain which proudly describes its jeans as ‘‘made from regenerative cotton, made using recycled water and 98% less than others . . .’’
But the stark reality is that we are already a low labour-productivity country. We are struggling to find and train enough medical people to fill jobs, particularly in some geographical locations and in some types of medicine.
If all of our doctors work halftime, we need twice as many of them. And that is before we try to keep our locally trained people here.
If we are expected to have offices for people who work partly at home but have their own office space as well, and the extra staff required for those who only work during school time, we need more spaces to work.
Employers report struggling to find staff who are willing to turn up regularly and on time, ready to do the job they have signed up to do.
These recent expectations of employees are built on some already existing unrealistic expectations about people having a right to a fulfilling job, whatever that may be.
Some people are becoming less happy about work because their expectations have been hyped-up way beyond what is likely to be delivered.
The delivery is not rising to meet these demands, and neither is it likely to. We are already a poor country trying to live the life of a rich country. Matching the reality with expectations will require lowering expectations.
The expectations of workers to be treated decently, not to be discriminated against and to have the protections offered by our employment law, are expectations we should not give up on.
When new factors happen, such as our ability to work from home, we can be pleased the world has delivered an enhancement to the choices we have around work.
But allowing ourselves to be disappointed by the world not delivering on unachievable work habits will only lead to more disappointment.
Unemployment is increasing. Those who retain their jobs may well find that their employers become less flexible and less understanding of every little concern of their employees.
The costs of ostensible virtue for companies may become unsustainable.
An agile approach to expectations will be needed to avoid disappointment.
Those who provide counselling services might be well advised to support their clients by helping them adjust to the changing world.
• Hilary Calvert is a former Otago regional councillor, MP and Dunedin city councillor.
