Worker citizenship reconsidered: Insights from happy workers in Australia

In this article, we critically engage with the currently dominant understanding of worker citizenship prescribed to worker’s employment status. Drawing on interview data from a group of Australians who consistently reported high levels of satisfaction with their working lives, and informed by the theorisation of citizenship beyond its conventional definition as a status, we explore the constituent elements of worker citizenship using an inductive approach. The analysis suggests that meaningful work and good workplace relationships are central to their worker citizenship. Job security remains valued but reinterpreted by some participants through a narrative of individual employability, while pay is discussed as less important. Building on recent critiques of the framing of work participation solely around paid employment, we make a case for the relational and recognitive dimension of work as essential for worker citizenship. We conclude that worker citizenship offers a valuable theoretical lens for examining people’s engagement with work and for considering the construction of work conditions that enable effective practices of citizenship and support wellbeing.