Members are not required to work a fixed number of hours a day, can volunteer for jobs that suit them, and can vary their work life doing different jobs. We agree to take turns washing dishes, and there may be some weeks that all members are required to spend a few hours working in our businesses. With these exceptions, East Wind hasn't assigned labor since 1983.

The community sets a weekly quota of hours that members are expected to work as their fair share of labor. Trusting one another to do a fair share is very important to us, and failure to do a fair share endangers membership. In recent years the weekly quota has typically been 40 hours. Keep in mind, this includes domestic labor which is normally not compensated for in the mainstream; therefore, we generally work less than those maintaining individual households. In addition, members get three weeks of labor credit on the anniversaries of their joining.