We're agreeing. The issue is that what I've said is true _as defined_ (the value of work is what you can get paid for it; if hiring someone to do something cost

We're agreeing. The issue is that what I've said is true _as defined_ (the value of work is what you can get paid for it; if hiring someone to do something costs X, and you can earn Y>X doing something else, then it's a deadweight loss of Y-X in economic terms to do X yourself instead), and you're pointing out that the definition of the metric has holes (which is true for all metrics). The consequence of management-to-the-metric follows.