The words we use for workers can reveal whom we imagine deserves comfort.

The words attached to different kinds of work reveal a hierarchy that nobody states directly. Some people have careers and some have jobs. Some are professionals and some are staff. Rest is earned by one group and monitored in the other, and the vocabulary carries the assumption before any argument is made.

Listen to how the various roles around you are described and who is imagined to deserve time off, discretion, and trust. Then adjust your own language. Speaking about everyone’s work with the same seriousness is a small change that other people notice quickly.