work
Enable an AI agent to recognise an instance of work, assess its progress and conditions, and decide whether and how it may be started, supported, changed, paused or concluded.
Research draft, second pass
A second pass drafted this model: the structure a model of this thing needs, and what is known about it in the world. The line under this one says how the second half was obtained - researched against sources, or recalled without web access, in which case nothing here was read anywhere and every claim is a lead to verify. Unreviewed either way.
Researched by: Codex + Grok
Purpose and description
Enable an AI agent to recognise an instance of work, assess its progress and conditions, and decide whether and how it may be started, supported, changed, paused or concluded.
In official labour statistics, work is any activity performed by persons of any sex and age to produce goods or to provide services for use by others or for own use, whether or not the activity is paid.
It can be Clarify the intended outcome and divide the undertaking into contributions with explicit interfaces.; Match contributions to available capabilities and authorised performers.; Begin or resume work when required inputs, permissions and capacity are available.; Record effort and outcome evidence, then revise the approach or estimate.; Pause, redirect or abandon work when conditions or expected value change.; Assess results against agreed criteria and close the undertaking or establish its next maintenance interval..
Distinguishing features
Distinguish work from its output: identify the effort undertaken separately from the document, service, repair or other result it produces.
Distinguish work from a goal: identify an undertaking or enacted effort toward an outcome, beyond merely stating a desired condition.
Distinguish work from employment: establish what is being done without requiring a wage, employer or formal job.
Distinguish work from a task description: separate the requested unit of activity from whether, how and by whom effort is actually undertaken.
Recognise maintenance work by the condition it sustains or restores, even when no new object is produced.
Scope
+ The outcome sought and the boundary of the effort undertaken
+ Who performs the work and how their contributions connect
+ The effort, capabilities, resources and conditions needed to proceed
+ Actual execution, interruptions, dependencies and remaining effort
+ Evidence of results, acceptance and continuing maintenance obligations
- Employment relationships, compensation and labour contracts
- The full identity and capabilities of workers or organisations
- Project and programme governance across multiple bodies of work
- The independent identity and lifecycle of products or creative works
- Physics concepts of work and energy transfer
- Detailed operating models of tools, facilities and materials
Characteristics
- Intended effect
- Produce; transform; maintain; restore; investigate; mixed; unresolved Determines what evidence would show that the effort served its purpose.
- Execution state
- Proposed; ready; underway; blocked; paused; concluded; abandoned; unknown Supports decisions about whether to begin, continue, unblock or stop effort.
- Performing contributors
- People, teams or systems linked to their contributions Makes actual participation and handoff responsibilities visible.
- Effort expended
- Contributor-hours or another explicitly defined effort measure, with method and observation period Separates resource expenditure from elapsed duration and achieved results.
- Remaining effort estimate
- Range in a stated effort unit, with assumptions and estimate date; unknown permitted Supports allocation and continuation decisions without treating an estimate as a commitment.
- Blocking dependencies
- Required inputs, decisions, permissions or predecessor contributions linked to readiness evidence Explains why additional effort alone may not advance the work.
- Outcome assessment
- Not assessed; unmet; partly met; met; disputed; no longer applicable Separates stopping activity from satisfying the intended outcome.
- Demand and capacity fit
- Adequate; constrained; exceeded; unknown, for a stated contributor and period Informs reassignment, assistance, pacing and pause decisions.
Also called
Where this came from
wikidata · CC0 1.0
Also registered as vr.tr.work
Drafted structure
Bundle to layer to finding to question, as the second pass will find it: 5 bundles · 9 layers · 16 findings · 24 questions.
Purpose and work boundary What the effort is meant to accomplish and which contributions belong to this undertaking.
Work needs an identifiable purpose and boundary so that effort, results and remaining obligations are attributed meaningfully.
Intended effect
The change or sustained condition that motivates the effort.
Outcome and beneficiary
Record the intended effect, who needs it and whether that purpose is stated, inferred or disputed.
- What should this work produce, change, restore, discover or keep in an acceptable condition? definition
- Who supplied or confirmed that purpose, and whose need does it address? provenance
Undertaking boundary
The limits separating this body of effort from adjacent or recurring work.
Included effort and recurrence
Record which contributions count toward this undertaking and how preparation, rework and repeated service are treated.
- Do preparation, coordination, waiting and rework belong to this undertaking or to separately tracked work? boundary
- What event or observation period separates this instance from the next recurrence? boundary
Contributions and coordination How performers combine their effort and transfer responsibility.
Work can fail at contribution boundaries even when individual performers complete their own activities.
Performing contributions
Who undertakes each contribution and what they are equipped and permitted to do.
Contributor fit and authority
Record actual and intended performers, required capabilities and the authority to execute or alter their contribution.
- Who is expected to perform each contribution, and who has actually performed it? provenance
- What capability, permission or supervision must be established before a contributor proceeds? action
Coordination and handoffs
How contributions depend on one another and become usable by the next performer.
Usable handoff
Record the input expected at each handoff, its readiness and who accepts responsibility for the next contribution.
- Which contribution cannot proceed until another supplies a usable input or decision? boundary
- What evidence and acknowledgement make the handoff sufficient to continue? action
Effort and execution conditions The effort being applied, the conditions it requires and the constraints on continuation.
Elapsed time and visible activity cannot alone establish how much work has been done or whether further effort is feasible.
Effort and progress
Observed expenditure of effort and evidence that it advances the intended outcome.
Expenditure versus advancement
Record effort separately from elapsed time, waiting and demonstrable progress, with uncertainty in remaining estimates.
- How much effort has been expended, using what unit and evidence, and how does it differ from elapsed time? measurement
- What observable result supports the current progress assessment and remaining effort estimate? measurement
Readiness and capacity
Whether inputs, working conditions and contributor capacity support the next action.
Continuation constraints
Record missing prerequisites, competing demands and conditions that require assistance, changed pacing or a stop.
- Which missing input, unavailable resource or capacity constraint currently limits the next contribution? measurement
- Under what observed conditions should an agent continue, seek assistance, reassign or pause the work? action
Results and continuation decisions How results are assessed and how further effort is justified or ended.
Work may stop without achieving its purpose, while successful maintenance may require further cycles rather than permanent completion.
Result and acceptance
The evidence and judgement connecting performed effort to the intended effect.
Outcome evidence
Record acceptance criteria, observed results, unresolved defects and who can judge whether the outcome is sufficient.
- What inspection, observation or test establishes that the intended effect has been achieved or sustained? measurement
- Who established the acceptance criteria, and who has accepted or disputed the result? provenance
Closure and further effort
The decision to conclude, repeat, repair, redirect or abandon the undertaking.
Disposition and residual obligations
Record why effort ends or continues, distinguishing accepted completion from abandonment and identifying remaining commitments.
- What evidence or changed need justifies concluding, repeating, redirecting or abandoning this work? action
- Which defects, maintenance duties or unfinished contributions remain, and where will responsibility for them be recorded? boundary
Evidence and external alignment What the world already says about this thing, gathered so the model can be checked against it.
A model that cannot be lined up against existing standards, identifiers and practice cannot be adopted by anyone who already uses them.
Reported evidence
Findings from the breadth pass, kept separate from the structural claims.
Kinds and varieties
Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.
- Employment (work for pay or profit)
- Own-use production of goods
- Own-use provision of services, including unpaid domestic and care work
- Unpaid trainee work
- Volunteer work
- Informal work (activity not fully covered by formal arrangements)
- Forced or compulsory labour
- Platform-mediated or gig work
- Which of these kinds and varieties hold for the sense of work this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Identifiers and schemes
Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.
- Wikidata - Q268378 - Item for work as human activity; distinct from physics work (Q11472) and from a copyright work as artefact (Q386724).
- ILO 19th ICLS forms of work - employment | own-use production work | unpaid trainee work | volunteer work | other work activities - Classifies forms of work statistically; it is not a persistent identifier for a particular spell of work.
- ISCO-08 - four-digit unit group (e.g. 2211, 7111) - International Standard Classification of Occupations (ILO, 2008). Names the occupation of the person who works, not the activity of working itself.
- Which of these identifiers and schemes hold for the sense of work this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Standards and regulation
Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.
- ILO 19th ICLS Resolution concerning statistics of work, employment and labour underutilization (2013) - International Labour Organization
- ILO 20th ICLS Resolution concerning statistics on work relationships (2018) - International Labour Organization
- ILO Hours of Work (Industry) Convention, 1919 (No. 1) - International Labour Organization
- ILO Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29) and Protocol of 2014 - International Labour Organization
- ILO Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138) and Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182) - International Labour Organization
- Directive 2003/88/EC on working time - European Union
- ISO 45001:2018 occupational health and safety management systems - ISO
- System of National Accounts 2008 production boundary - UN, European Commission, IMF, OECD, World Bank
- Which of these standards and regulation hold for the sense of work this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Real-world use
Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.
- Labour-force and household surveys classify people by whether they did any work in a reference week and by form of work (employment, own-use production, volunteering, unpaid training).
- Time-use surveys record unpaid domestic and care work that employment statistics miss.
- Employment contracts, payroll, working-time records and occupational-health systems treat paid work as a legally regulated activity with hours, duties and hazards.
- National accounts count some work (paid employment and much goods production) inside GDP and leave most unpaid service work outside it.
- Inspectors, unions and courts use labour codes to decide whether an activity is employment, self-employment, volunteering or illegal forced labour.
- Which of these real-world use hold for the sense of work this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Typical measurements
Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.
- Hours actually worked in a reference week - Part-time often about 1-34; statutory full-time commonly 35-48; long-hours spells above 48-60+ - h/week
- Usual hours of unpaid domestic and care work (among those who do it) - about 2-8 depending on sex, household composition and country - h/day
- Hourly earnings from employment - from below a local subsistence or statutory minimum wage to high professional rates; not a single global band - local currency per hour
- Occupational fatality rate - on the order of about 1-20 deaths per year in many national series, much higher in some hazardous sectors and countries - deaths per 100 000 workers per year
- Which of these typical measurements hold for the sense of work this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Failure modes and hazards
Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.
- Overwork, burnout and, in some jurisdictions, recognised death from overwork (karoshi).
- Unemployment, time-related underemployment and labour underutilization.
- Occupational injury, disease and fatality.
- Forced labour, child labour and trafficking into work.
- Wage theft, unpaid overtime and misclassification of employees as self-employed or volunteers.
- Informalization that strips legal protection, social insurance and enforceable hours limits.
- Statistical and economic invisibility of unpaid care, which then fails to appear in policy as work.
- Which of these failure modes and hazards hold for the sense of work this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Regional variation
Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.
- Everyday English and many labour laws still treat 'work' as paid employment; ICLS statistics treat unpaid production and volunteering as work too.
- The EU Working Time Directive caps average weekly working time at 48 hours for many workers; United States federal law has no general weekly cap for many salaried employees.
- A large share of work in much of Africa, South Asia and Latin America is informal; much of Northern and Western Europe is dominated by formal wage employment.
- Japan and the Republic of Korea have named long-hours cultures and, in Japan, official recognition of karoshi; China has a widely discussed 996 office-hour pattern.
- German Arbeit versus Werk, and French travail versus œuvre, split the activity of working from the product ('a work'); English collapses both into one word.
- National accounts follow SNA and omit most unpaid domestic services; care-economy and time-use practice in several countries counts that activity as work.
- Which of these regional variation hold for the sense of work this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Neighbouring kinds and how to tell them apart
Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.
- employment - Employment is only work performed for pay or profit; unpaid care, volunteering and much own-use production are work but not employment under the 19th ICLS.
- job or occupation - A job or ISCO occupation is a role or classification a person holds; work is the activity performed, which may occur with no job (own-use production, volunteering).
- labour as a factor of production - Labour in a production function is an abstract aggregate input; work is a concrete activity by persons, including forms that SNA labour input often omits.
- task - A task is a bounded unit with a completion criterion; work is the ongoing activity, which may contain many tasks or none that are formally specified.
- leisure - Leisure is activity not aimed at producing goods or services for use; the ICLS production-for-use test is what separates it from work.
- work (physics) - Physics work is energy transferred by a force, measured in joules; this concept is a human activity, not a mechanical energy quantity.
- work (copyright or creative artefact) - A copyright work is a product (an œuvre); the test is whether the referent is the artefact or the activity of producing goods or services.
- play - Play is primarily autotelic; work, in the statistical sense, is identified by production of goods or services for use, even if the activity is also enjoyed.
- Which of these neighbouring kinds and how to tell them apart hold for the sense of work this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Sources
- Resolution concerning statistics of work, employment and labour underutilization - International Labour Organization, 19th International Conference of Labour Statisticians (2013) - The specialist definition of work, the five statistical forms of work, and the distinction between work and employment.
- Directive 2003/88/EC concerning certain aspects of the organisation of working time - European Parliament and Council - Working-time limits, rest, and the EU legal sense of working time as a regulated quantity.
- System of National Accounts 2008 - United Nations, European Commission, IMF, OECD and World Bank - The production boundary that includes goods for own use but generally excludes unpaid domestic and care services, which is why much work is invisible in GDP.
- ISO 45001:2018 Occupational health and safety management systems - Requirements with guidance for use - International Organization for Standardization - Work as an activity that organisations must manage for injury, disease and other occupational harm.
What the second pass must settle
- Does vr.tr.work-q42213 denote purposeful effort broadly, human labour specifically, or another sense of work?
- Which existing Vercy world model, if any, already owns this concept and should be linked instead of creating a separate model?
- Where should the registry draw the boundary between work, activity, task, process and project, especially before execution begins?
- Should fully automated execution count as work in its own right, and how should mixed human and machine effort be represented?
- How should continuous care, availability and maintenance be bounded and assessed when neither discrete outputs nor a final completion event are appropriate?