What if every job lasted a year?
Every job in the country ends on 31 December. In January, you start somewhere new, whether you like it or not.
December. The desk has to be clear by Friday.
The Thursday it passes
The law is announced on a Thursday. People read it twice. Their current job ends next December, and so does their boss’s.
Notice periods used to depend on the contract. Now a cook and a pilot get exactly the same one.
The first December
December becomes the national month for moving house, because a new job often means a new town. Schools expect a lot of new addresses in January.
Jobs that take years to learn suffer. A hospital ward that changes staff every winter spends the spring finding out where everything is kept.
Five Decembers later
CVs are long, with a new line every year. Nobody talks about loyalty any more, only about having had a good year. Some people like the clean break: nobody has to wait to be pushed out.
Banks will only lend what someone can repay inside twelve months, so mortgages shrink, and houses go to the few people whose contracts are allowed to repeat.
Who wins
- People who wanted to quit but never daredDecember does it for them.
- Seasonal tradesThe whole country now runs on their calendar.
- Anyone who had a bad bossThe boss is gone in a year, too.
Who loses
- Hospitals, airlines and anything that takes years to learnEvery January is a room full of beginners.
- Anyone with a mortgageThe bank won’t lend past December.
Lots of people already live from one short contract to the next. Making that the only way to work, even for surgeons and pilots, is the part politicians would have to defend every single December.
Would you take a job that ends in a year?
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