From indecent work to sustainable livelihoods in the age of the Anthropocene

Introduction

We exist in the Age of the Anthropocene where human beings have now become the central drivers of dangerous changes to the earth's biosphere (UNDP, 2022). Through human activities, we have had the greatest impacts on carbon and methane in Earth's atmosphere to date. Greenhouse gas emissions are causing temperatures and sea levels to rise, and climate change is now impacting all aspects of human life. Air quality in cities is diminishing and the quantity of plastic is now equal to the biomass of animals on Earth. It is estimated that up to a billion people could be displaced by natural hazards by 2050 (UNDP, 2022). Industrialisation has created manufacturing and production on unprecedented scales, and globalisation has enabled burgeoning neoliberal economic sectors. The sectors that rely on extractive industries and labour-intensive production have created wealth concentration, increasing inequalities and precarity, the exploitation of human beings, and devastation for the planet (Landman & Silverman, 2019).

The ever-increasing demands of market-driven production and consumption have facilitated practices of modern slavery and human trafficking. Worldwide, and touching all areas of consumption, ‘the production chains of clothes, food and services consumed globally are tainted with forced labour’ (Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, 2017, p. 1). This work is at best indecent and at worst obscene. It is typically degrading, dangerous, and dirty (Zimmerman et al., 2011). Modern slaves almost always have histories of trauma, abuse, and poor physical and psychological health, which are made worse by the continuing violations that they encounter in forced labour environments (Zimmerman et al., 2011). Once enslaved, people are routinely subject to sexual and physical violence, legal insecurities, deprivation of food and sleep, debt bondage, poor or no pay, long hours, and hazardous conditions (Baldwin et al., 2015; Zimmerman et al., 2011). Practices of slavery are invariably also highly destructive for the natural environment.

There have been a number of responses in both international and national contexts to address sustainability both for human life and the planet. The United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development outlines 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) ¹ for human thriving within prosperous and fulfilling lives ideally embedded in positive social, economic, and technological progress. This progress is harmonious with nature through sustainable production, and consumption on a planet that is protected from degradation (United Nations, 2023). Sustainable business models are increasingly conceived in terms of people, planet, and profits, or how to best manage balancing the protection of the ecosystem, welfare of people, and economic prosperity (Palmer & Flanagan, 2016).

Organisational values, codes of conduct, and ethical parameters are critical infrastructures in creating decent work and protecting the planet. This requires broad definitions and protection of the workforce, coupled with constant scrutiny of the location and means of production. Transparency, accountability, and improvement in organisational structures, identifying risks and abuses in supply chains, and as well as legal and moral human resource processes are demanded. In the age of the Anthropocene, work psychologists are key players in commitments to decent work, sustainability, and ethical business practices. Promoting sustainable livelihoods will require healthy organisations looking outward to play their part in addressing modern slavery and protecting natural environments. Moreover, career practitioners will be vital partners in ensuing dialogue and collaboration to support employment pathways that are sustainable both for workers, the biosphere, and ultimately in shaping the future of work.

Unfree work

Modern slavery is a term which has come to encompass a number of work conditions which include conventional slavery, debt bondage, human trafficking, and forced labour (Crane et al., 2013) The Australian Modern Slavery Act, 2018 defines slavery as ‘working in conditions of exploitation that a person cannot refuse or leave because of threats, violence, coercion, deception, and/or abuse of power’. Such abuses of power can further manifest, for example, in denial of wages, removal of identity documents (i.e. passports), and threats to immigration status (New, 2015). Approximated to annually generate US$150b, the ILO in 2021 estimated that nearly 50 million people live in contemporary slavery (ILO, 2022). This figure equates to around 27.6 million people in forced labour, and 22 million in forced marriages. Of the approximately 27 million people in forced labour, 17.3 million are in labouring in the private sector, 3.9 million are under government control, and 6.3 million are in commercial sexual exploitation (ILO, 2021). The forced labour market which exploits vulnerable and trafficked people takes place in the agricultural, construction, textile, mining, domestic servitude, forestry, and fishing industries and sectors (Zimmerman et al., 2011).

Practices of modern slavery often take place in ever-increasing fragile natural environments. Caught in circular chaos, this indecent and obscene work, more often than not advances the devastation of the ecosystem (Bales, 2016). For example, Crane et al. (2022) highlight the Thai fishing industry where it is common for fishermen to be unpaid, subject to hazardous conditions, and threatened with violence to catch the seafood destined for the freezers of Tesco, Costco, and Walmart. These enslaved fishing crews operate in fleets that ravage the oceans and significantly impact the marine food chain, the health of coral reefs and fish stocks as well as cause damage to the seabed, and change the ocean chemistry, all of which contributes to rising sea temperatures (Issifu, 2022). Our oceans control the global climate and generate half of the oxygen that humanity needs. They absorb a quarter of our carbon emissions as well as 90% of the excess heat, which in turn regulates temperatures on land. Providing the source of protein and food for 50% of us, our oceans ensure the livelihoods of just under half the world's population and are the source of 57 million jobs worldwide (U.N. Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 2023). ‘The ocean is the largest ecosystem on Earth, and it is the planet's life support system’ (Marine Conservation Institute, 2023), and imminent protection is not only urgent but vital.

Addressing modern slavery and climate change

Standards, certifications, regulations, policies, conventions, and laws are global and societal level solutions to support decent work and protection of the planet. Overall, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the 17 SDGs are a ‘shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future’ (U.N. Department of Economic and Social Affairs Sustainable Development, 2023). Decent work is seen as the baseline for prosperous lives and is conceptualised as four interrelated dimensions – employment, social protection, workers’ rights, and social dialogue (ILO, 1999). In application, decent work is well-remunerated employment taking place within safe and healthy conditions in societies where there is income and social security. There is no forced or child labour, and there is an absence of workplace discrimination. Workers have freedom of association, freedom of speech, and rights to work-related negotiation processes (Ghai, 2003).

The right to decent work is enshrined in The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Article 4 which prohibits slavery, and in Article 23, which declares a right to decent and dignified work. The ILO Convention on Forced or Compulsory Labour encourages encourage stakeholders to publish evidence of non-slave labour in supply chains and to publicly shame and impose sanctions on non-complying companies (Gold, Trautrims, & Trodd, 2015). Likewise, the OCED publishes guidelines for multinationals on responsible business practices (Christ et al., 2019). Specific initiatives, such as the 1997 Atlanta Agreement 1997 formed by the ILO, UNICEF, and the Sialkot Chamber of Commerce with the support of Nike and Adidas resulted in making the stitching of footballs decent work in Sialkot Pakistan. The Atlanta Agreement effectively removed child labour from football manufacturing in Sialkot, increased wages, established independent monitoring systems, raised awareness, and coordinated social protection frameworks (Lund-Thomsen & Nadvi, 2010). There have been national initiatives such as the Brazilian National Pact for the Eradication of Slave Labour (2005), the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act (2010), and the UK Modern Slavery Bill (2015). Partnerships have been formed such as the Fair Labour Association concerned with sweatshop labour in the apparel industry, and the Cocoa Initiative formed to combat child labour which includes companies, suppliers, the academy, and civil society (Flynn & Walker, 2021).

Environmental sustainability is also foremost in regulatory processes around both protection of the planet and decent work. The Paris Agreement 2015 was formulated to combat global warming through reduction of greenhouse emissions by establishing carbon neutral targets, and zero carbon solutions (United Nations Climate Action, 2023). The European Climate Law 2021 stipulates a legally binding target of net zero greenhouse gas emissions for European countries by 2050 (European Commission, 2023). The joint UNEP, ² ILO, ³ IOE, ⁴ and ITUC ⁵ 2008 report focuses on green jobs or decent work in a sustainable and low-carbon world in six economic sectors, forestry, agriculture, transport, manufacturing, building, and retail (ILO, 2008). Industry groups such as the Business for Social Responsibility (BSR) include 300 companies who envision a ‘force for positive social change – a force that would preserve and restore natural resources, ensure human dignity and fairness, and operate transparently’ (Business for Social Responsibility, 2018, p. 2). Leveraging reputational veracity, and brand integrity, NGOs also place pressure on organisations to support decent work conditions, prohibit modern slavery, and commit to environmental sustainability (i.e. Amnesty International, Hope for Justice, Walk Free Foundation, Know the Chain, Baptist World Aid, and Tearfund). A recent example of such advocacy is a 2022 Tearfund report, which looked at 25 footwear companies encompassing 90 brands, including recognised labels such as Adidas, Nike, Allbirds, Timberland, and New Balance. Tearfund found that 56% of companies were unable to identify the source of their raw materials (cotton and leather), no shoe companies paid a living wage, and only 20% had an emissions target and decarbonisation strategy in step with the UN Fashion Industry for Climate Action (Tearfund, 2022).

Significant manufacturing and assembling occurs within the Global Factory (Buckley, 2009) where work is geographically dispersed, straddling multiple legislative, cultural, and socio-economic locations, which are all interconnected in production and distribution processes (Caspersz et al., 2022). The footwear sector can be seen as a broad example of the global factory in action. The leather industry is a major supplier for the footwear sector and worth around US$200 billion worldwide and accounts for about 1.4% of the world's greenhouse emissions (Tearfund, 2022). The Bangladeshi leather sector accounts for 3% of the world's leather goods and is the world's eighth largest producer of footwear (Euduf, 2022). Most workers are employed under non-standard and non-permanent working arrangements, many working long hours 7 days a week. Working in a Bangladeshi leather tannery means a daily wage of US$5. Tanning leather requires immersing cowhides in toxic chemicals such as chromium, arsenic, and formaldehyde. Working conditions are hazardous and only a quarter of workers reported access to personal protective equipment (Eusuf, 2022). The mortality rate is appalling as 90% of the workers die before the age of 50 from exposure to the chemicals (Tearfund, 2022). Leather tanneries are poisoning the main river in Dhaka Bangladesh, China's Yangtze Rice, and the Ganges in India, and the toxic water is causing cancer, respiratory disease, and genetic disorders, impacting future generations (Tearfund, 2022).

Sustainable livelihoods

Work must be decent and protective of the environment to provide genuinely sustainable livelihoods for contemporary workers, their families, and generations to come (Carr et al., 2023). Livelihoods are much greater than just a job, ‘a livelihood comprises people, their capabilities, and their means of living, including food, income and assets … A livelihood is environmentally sustainable when it maintains or enhances the local and global assets on which livelihoods depend and has net beneficial effects on other livelihoods. A livelihood is socially sustainable which can cope with and recover from stress and shocks, and provide for future generations’ (Chambers & Conway, 1992, p. 1). Combining the approaches of the Psychology of Working Framework (PWF), the Psychology of Working Theory (PWT), Humanitarian Work Psychology (HWP), and the Psychology of Sustainability and Sustainable Development provides a framework for sustainable livelihoods that are both decent for people and protective of the planet. These approaches offer a road map for Industrial Organisational/Work and Vocational psychologists to support sustainable livelihoods, and to tackle modern slavery and climate change.

At the heart of Blustein's (2001) PWF and the PWT (Duffy et al., 2016), is the call for an inclusive approach to encompass the working lives of all humanity in research and practice of work psychology. Taking up this call not only recognises precarity, and vulnerability at work on account of class, sexuality, gender, disability, and ethnicity in developed nations but also includes ‘everyone who works and who wants to work around the globe’ (Duffy et al., 2016, p. 128), thus bringing the lives of people in forced labour into view. Blustein (2001) argues for the need to understand work as contextual, located not only within processes of production or service but also within the function of organisations, the structures of family and community life, and the dynamics of cultural frameworks. Through such understandings, researchers and career practitioners can work to ‘… inform efforts to create more equitable and dignified working experiences’ that are embedded in social justice (Blustein, 2006, p. 197). In short, facilitate decent work.

HWP is a broad approach which heralds ‘the application of I-O psychology to some of the big issues facing society today, including poverty, inequality, social justice, and decent work’ (McWha-Hermann et al., 2015, p. 1). A central goal of HWP is to bring a humanistic approach to organisational psychology and to shine a spotlight on workers, and workplace practices that have been traditionally neglected by organisational psychology research, and application (Carr, MacLachlan, & Furnham, 2012). Taking a humanitarian approach requires a pivot to seeing organisations as key stakeholders in tackling modern slavery, reducing poverty and inequality, enabling sustainable and ethical economic growth, and in supporting social and community development. This can mean taking central tenets of I-O psychology such as worker motivation, skills and vocational development and training, organisational justice, change management, capacity building, and leadership and management theories more fully into the functioning of organisations, especially those involved with humanitarian issues, development, and aid (Carr, MacLachlan, & Furnham, 2012). This means organisational commitments to decent and equal pay for work, shifting away from dual salaries for international and local workers (Carr et al., 2010), developing micro-enterprise schemes and business skills programs, especially for women (Berry, 2011), creating and promoting industry standard-setting easily identified through labels and certificate denoting environmental protections (eco-labels), free labour (child-free) or fair trading conditions (Saner & Yiu, 2012), engaging in new diplomacies (Saner & Yiu, 2012), and ensuring technological and digital access in a world of work, which is increasingly online (Gloss et al., 2012).

An HWP and the PWF and PWT approaches to decent work and Sustainable Livelihoods can be complemented by the Psychology of Sustainability and Sustainable Development (Di Fabio, 2017b; Di Fabio & Rosen, 2018, 2020) This positively framed perspective recognises the psychological processes in decision making and behaviours towards cultures of sustainability. The Psychology of Sustainability and Sustainable Development ‘is viewed not only in terms of the ecological and social environment but also in terms of promoting the well-being of all people’ (Di Fabio, 2017, p. 2). These ideas of well-being extend beyond the worker and groups to the healthy functioning of organisations and society itself. This is a renewed focus on enrichment and growth that emphasises the significance of meaning, purpose, and connection to one another, and our environments (Di Fabio, 2017).

Creating a Psychology of Sustainability and Sustainable Development in organisations that is ethical, relational, and accountable can be nursed by work psychologists who have a part to play in the development and sustenance of organisational culture. Structuring decision making around aspirational goals such as the United Nations 2030 Agenda, alongside holding legal regulations in view will be crucial in foregrounding sustainable livelihoods. Organisations can use their purchasing power to promote social responsibility and uphold human rights. This can be done through deliberately buying goods and products that reduce social, environmental, and economic harm (Wild & Zhou, 2011). Transparency and ongoing monitoring will mean greater attention to supply chain mapping through risk assessments and policies, especially around modern slavery (Ahmed et al., 2022), greater workforce visibility through tighter recruitment methods (Trautrims et al., 2020), and the development of ethical procurement procedures, ethical supplier selection, and training of sourcing specialists against criterion devised around environmental, and socio-economic impacts (Gold et al., 2015).

In modern economies, environmental sustainability is increasingly seen in the very nature of work itself, or the ‘greening’ of jobs to meet the challenges of decent work in low-carbon economies (ILO, 2008). Green jobs are seen as solutions to climate change and defined by the ILO as ‘… decent jobs that contribute to preserve or restore the environment, be they in traditional sectors such as manufacturing and construction, or in new, emerging green sectors such as renewable energy and energy efficiency’ (ILO, 2016). Transformation to a green economical model will require fundamental transitions as jobs are redefined, disappear, and new jobs are created (Tănasie et al., 2022). However, the shift to a low or zero-carbon system requires serious technological and social changes, which are likely to have serious impacts on precarious workers who already work in indecent jobs, such as in the leather tanneries of Bangladesh. To make this shift, and successfully implement the changes to a low-carbon economy, there must be just transitions (Wang & Lo, 2021) to ensure that existing social and economic injustices are not replicated. This will require careful thought and planning around sustainability within organisations operating in first-world countries dealing with processes of production such as within the global factory (Wang & Lo, 2021).

Modern corporate social responsibility (CRS) is concerned with shared values (Porter & Kramer, 2011) whereby organisations are strategically and operationally concerned with both competitiveness and growing the socioeconomic conditions of the communities in which, they conduct business. This means acting in a self-regulated manner to ensure not only compliance with laws, statutes, and standards but with an internal moral compass that means doing business in ethical and responsible ways that fully consider actions and impacts (Pop, 2011). According to the United Nations Global Compact (the world's largest corporate sustainability initiative), CSR comprises three components: (1) internal responsibility which is related to employees, supplier selection, quality, well-being, and training, (2) external responsibility is concerned with community development and stakeholders, and (3) environmental responsibility, the impact on the ecosystem (Shah, 2016). Engaging authentically in practices of CSR mean greater avenues for sustainable livelihoods, through refusal to use forced labour and protecting the planet. Not only does engagement with CSR shape the way the organisations interact with precarious workers, poor conditions, and threats to the environment, but there are also proven benefits for direct employees of organisations.

The impact of CSR has been shown to positively influence worker engagement, job satisfaction, organisational commitment, and organisational citizenship behaviours, as it is considered that employees can bring their whole selves to work (Glavas, 2016). CSR is thought to create psychologically safe environments in which employees can be themselves in organisations that demonstrate shared values through ethical performance and positive contributions to the world. Thus, being part of a greater purpose in the world, which is part of promoting peace and justice (Glavas, 2016). Creating meaningful lives through positive organisational narratives created through practices of CSR are crucial to the work-life project that decent employment is increasingly coming to mean for human beings.

Job-seeking and vocational psychology

The world of work increasingly appears caught in the grips of Quiet Quitting and the Great Resignation. Quiet Quitting, estimated to involve 50% of the American workforce refers to a disengaged mode at work whereby the minimum required for the workplace role is undertaken. Polling indicates that the generations most likely to be quiet quitters are GenZ ⁶ and younger Millennials ⁷ (Pew Research Centre, 2019) The Great Resignation is a step further in the mass and voluntary exit from jobs, and in 2021 over 47 million American workers had quit their jobs (Formica & Sfodera, 2022). It is thought that Quiet Quitting and the Great Resignation partly results from people seeking personal meaningfulness in work, which connects with the purpose of the organisation or employer (Formica & Sfodera, 2022). In a world filled with greater uncertainty and rapid change, work may be progressively seen as a means to fulfil psychological needs (i.e. sense of belonging and fulfilment), a place that needs to align with personal values, and provide existential purpose (Formica & Sfodera, 2022).

This existential purpose looks to be increasingly tied up with sustainability and sustainable livelihoods. There is growing evidence that a large number of young people are desiring environmentally sustainable jobs. Surveys undertaken in the UK and the Asia Pacific showed that 57% and 77% of young adults respectively aspired to have a green job (Impakter, 2023). Research also indicates that older workers are also highly concerned with environmental sustainability (Wiernik, 2013). The recently developed Sustainable Development Goals Psychological Inventory (SDGPI) may be a starting point for vocational practitioners when working with job seekers entering the workforce or individuals looking to switch careers. The SDGPI is designed to assess the individual's perceptions and determine the importance of the 17 SDGs ⁸ through a focus on three psychological aspects – interest, motivation, and self-efficacy (Di Fabio & Rosen, 2020; Svicher et al., 2022). The O*NET taxonomy now lists more than 60 occupations that incorporate environmental aspects into the required knowledge and skills required in job performance (Dierdorff, 2013). Accessing green job boards such as New Zealand's Do Good Jobs ⁹ connects people seeking work that makes social and environmental change with NGOs, charities, social enterprises, and other organisations that offer internships, voluntary roles, and paid work (dogoodjobs, 2023). The NGO and charities global market value increased from $288 billion in 2022, to $305 billion in 2023 (Business Reach Company, 2023). One out of every 10 American workers is employed in an NGO (Global Leadership Bulletin, 2015), and 25% of adult Americans volunteer for a charity or NGO (NonProfitSource, 2023). People care about social and environmental sustainability. There is no single centralised list of NGOs, or government organisations that list those fighting practices of indecent work such as forced labour, modern slavery, and human trafficking, however, there are numerous organisations listed online devoted to these causes that undoubtedly involve thousands of people to carry out this work. It is without doubt, that increasingly human beings are seeking roles that will directly create and support sustainable livelihoods for others.

The skills required for creating, promoting, or supporting sustainable livelihoods either directly or indirectly will be those clustered around science, architecture and planning, engineering and technology, agriculture, environmental justice, and systems. There will need to be expertise in protecting natural resources (land and water), especially around food production coupled with managing new technologies such as renewable energy. Skills will be needed for the management of built environments that rely on sustainable systems and infrastructures. Underpinning the skills required for sustainability and undoubtedly the most crucial are environmental justice. This will require capabilities for people to operate at the intersections of human rights and environmental protections. These skills will encompass a global awareness (legal, social, economic, cultural, historical, etc.) to ensure that injustice and inequalities are not replicated as the world shifts towards sustainable goals and outcomes (World Economic Forum, 2021). The PWF provides a useful reference point through a focus on skill development as opposed to concentrating on aptitudes within vocational psychology in order to provide adaptive pathways into work (Blustein, 2006, 2013). Utilising this framework could be particularly useful for guiding transitions from school to employment and in counselling and advice around retraining. Skill acquisition in the green economy means a better outcome for the planet and also meets the psychological needs that work satisfies through providing the means to greater self-determination in employment choices (Blustein, 2006; 2013), ultimately leading to greater empowerment and general satisfaction with life.

Conclusion

Secure, safe, and fulfilling lives are wrapped in decency, justice, and sustainability. The age of the Anthropocene heralds a critical juncture in the world's history, where climate change is threatening the very existence of both humanity and the planet. There is unprecedented poverty and inequality, and millions of people face increasing precarity at work, daily exploitation, and at worst, lives as modern slaves. Typically, these types of work take place in already fragile natural environments, advancing the degradation of our ecosystems. The United Nation's 17 Sustainable Development Goals, and the Paris Agreement of 2015, amongst others, signal a response to these contemporary crises in ways that strive for human flourishing, which is harmonious with nature through sustainable practices across all levels of society, and in wider processes of globalisation, especially around work. Decent work that is decent for the planet takes place in the form of sustainable livelihoods. Approaches such as the PWF, the PWT, HWP, and the Psychology of Sustainability and Sustainable Development are well positioned to be central drivers for the fields of I/O Psychology and Vocational Psychology to support and promote sustainable livelihoods for all. These approaches with foundations grounded in social justice and humanitarianism can drive research and application to guide vocational training and development, as well as shape organisational structures and processes,

Healthy organisations operate on transparency and accountability which enable ethical supply chains, have moral human resource processes, and make just transitions to low or zero-carbon ways of doing business both at home, and within their place in the global factory. Work psychologists can be accomplices in the exercise of modern CSR, which provides a pathway for organisations to meaningfully engage with poverty, precarity, forced labour, fragile communities, and threats to the environment. Vocational psychologists are vital and ideal chaperones along this pathway to identify and aid crucial skill development and transition into meaningful and fulfilling employment. Researchers and practitioners in the fields of I/O Work and Vocational Psychology are key players in driving the solutions for tackling modern slavery, reducing growing wealth inequalities, and in enabling sustainable and ethical social and economic growth that benefits and nurtures individuals, communities, and societies and sustains the planet. The challenge then arises for how I/O Work and Vocational psychology can continue to end indecent work, and enable sustainable livelihoods.