Work and Organizational Psychology (WOP) has arguably been studying decent work
and its prevailing conditions for over 60 years, but has still not really connected with the
ILO's Decent Work Agenda, which was only introduced in the 1990s. Decent Work
meanwhile does not take account of the motivation to work - people do not go to work
to get decent work. For thousands of years, work has been done to make a sustainable
livelihood. The concept of Sustainable Livelihoods was introduced in the late 1980s,
with regard to aid and development in economically poorer countries, where it was
intended to highlight environmental protection. Today, we know that poverty knows no
borders, and that working poverty has become the norm rather than the exception.
Sustainable livelihoods matter everywhere. Decent work conditions are necessary but
not sufficient for their attainment. The concept is also wide enough to take in the triple
bottom line, and ESG; and thus speak truth to crises that include indecent work and
working poverty, climate change which is often accelerated by work practices and in
turn threatens livelihoods, and the rise, and rise, of inequality within organizations and
across global supply chains.
All of these factors set the scene for a need to up our applied psychology game, as
researchers, educators, and practitioners. We must make more of a contribution to
sustainability of livelihoods. Indexing is one way to do this. As Systems theory and
thinking suggest, an index of sustainable livelihoods may offer a visible hand with just
work transitions for different generations, with career counseling, with organizational
and sectoral reform, and with workforce development initiatives by governments. This
invited symposium, and its distinguished speakers, are each at the cutting edge of such
standard-setting for the promotion of sustainable livelihoods, through Project SLATE
(Sustainable Livelihoods And The Ecosystem).