Is my work worth doing? This is a question many of us ask ourselves at different points in our careers. It reflects a universal quest for meaning and life purpose that managers, leaders, and employers cannot afford to overlook.
Meaningful work brings important benefits for companies in the form of engaged, satisfied, and committed employees who contribute to organizational creativity, innovation, and performance. Not surprisingly, many organizations have increasingly utilized meaningful work as a tool for motivating and retaining their employees. Some companies have turned to hiring workplace happiness consultants or perfectly defining their organizational purpose. Clarifying what an organization stands for – and what it considers important – to employees, and wider stakeholders, can help individuals identify and be more responsible for how their daily work connects to something broader.
Yet, meaningful work ultimately resides in the eye of the beholder: people evaluate for themselves whether they are doing meaningful work and why it matters to them. Work is meaningful when people perceive it as allowing them to grow personally and professionally, remain true to themselves, express their full potential, feel a sense of belonging, and contribute to human and societal wellbeing.
In theory, any work can be experienced as meaningful. Take, for instance, the well-known story of the custodian at NASA who saw how his mopping the floors contributed to the effort of putting a man on the moon. In our own research we have found other examples, such as the box factory operative who finds meaning in pointing out the finished luxury chocolate boxes with their children in the local supermarket.
However, in practice, meaningful work can be exploited if the work does not meet certain objective conditions, such as diminished pay, unsafe conditions, or job insecurity. Research has shown that meaningful work can only truly thrive and bring benefits when the organization also provides the workplace conditions that ensure autonomy, resources, fairness, and the fulfillment of basic human rights.
There are several pitfalls that managers and leaders should be aware of when thinking about meaningful work.
First, meaningfulness is not the same as happiness. Organizations tend to equate meaningfulness with happiness, while the two are distinct. Meaningfulness is about significance and purpose in one’s work and is a fundamentally human need, while happiness is about feeling good. Also, while happiness is experienced as a result of positive work events, meaningfulness can be experienced as a result of positive, negative, and mixed-emotional events.
Second, meaningfulness cannot simply be managed through organizational purpose. Some leaders assume that they can “manage” or “create” meaning for their employees with a well-crafted organizational purpose. But, people may not necessarily buy into this purpose or find it easy to relate to in their work. It may also conflict with the meaning that employees themselves form about their work. Focusing too much on organizational purpose may pressure workers to “fake” what they find meaningful in order to fit in.
Finally, there can also be dangers in having too much meaningfulness. Heavy promotion of work’s meaningfulness could create a culture of over-commitment and over-devotion to one’s work. When combined with poor or deteriorating objective work conditions, the idea of meaningful work could be used to manipulate and exploit employees. Although pushing a culture of finding meaning in one’s work can bring performance benefits for the organization in the short term, it can also increase stress and disrupt work-life balance. This could lead to employee burnout and serious negative consequences for both employees and the organization.
Recognizing these pitfalls raises important challenges for leaders and managers: how can meaningfulness be fostered without creating the very problems it is meant to solve?
Leaders and managers should not downplay the importance of establishing decent work conditions nor of creating fair and reliable foundations. When baseline working conditions (e.g., fair pay, safety) are provided to employees, their needs for survival, social connection, and self-determination can be met. By meeting these needs in the long term, employees can experience greater meaningfulness in their work. Also, establishing fairness in accessing organizational resources is critical. Leaders should consider questions such as: which jobs in the organization are most easily geared towards meaning and purpose, and which require more careful attention? Who has easier access to resources and support, and who may face barriers?
At the same time, leaders must recognize that meaningful work is experienced differently across individual circumstances and career journeys. The broader work-life situation of each person matters. For example, what might particularly resonate about the organization or the job itself will likely differ depending on employees’ career stage or family situation. It will also differ according to whether they see their job as just a job, a career, or a calling. Therefore, when it comes to enabling meaningful work, leaders and managers should disregard a “one-size-fits-all” approach and instead support employees to individually find and sustain what keeps their work meaningful to them. For example, providing opportunities for individuals to engage in job crafting – redefining and reimagining their job designs in personally meaningful ways could enable greater meaningful work. Also, leaders and managers may consider small interventions, such as incorporating ‘meaningful’ reflections and goal-setting activities within personal development initiatives and team-building sessions.
Meaningful work is also shaped by shared experiences at work. Focusing just on individual needs may miss a critically important feature of meaningful work – namely, the social interactions and dynamics that foster a sense of collective purpose. People want to feel they make a positive difference on others around them and to also feel buoyed up by the people they work with or serve.
Our research with Sabrine El Baroudi of VU Amsterdam shows that people look out for positive cues from their colleagues and supervisors. When work relations signal a sense of worth (through appreciation and recognition), a sense of care (through help and support), and a sense of safety (through open communication and voicing concerns), people can experience meaningfulness even in emotionally challenging and stressful work situations. Therefore, organizations must foster a culture that fuels such positive work relations where worth, care, and safety are reciprocated and encourage ongoing feedback and discussion.
Finally, leaders must also consider aspects related to DEI, including exposure to prejudice and discrimination, that can significantly shape how people experience their work. There is a need to understand how meaning and purpose can be enhanced in ways that are inclusive, ethical, and equitable. While the focus here is not about DEI policy itself, principles of inclusion remain essential. After all, meaningful work is a fundamental human need that all people should be able to experience. Managers and leaders can, for example, incorporate elements around inclusive leadership practice, allyship and advocacy, and upholding values of respect and dignity at work. Fostering meaningful work requires an inclusive mindset that supports everyone.
Make meaningful work sustainable.
Meaningful work goes beyond the simple assumption that “a happy worker is a productive worker.” It directs attention to what makes us human and what makes life worth living. It is not just a nice thing to have.
Leaders should start asking what aspects of the organization, the jobs people do, and the day-to-day work interactions help people experience a deeper sense of meaning, purpose, and worth. ‘Managing’ meaningful work is about balancing different people’s needs and demands, and ensuring the right resources are in place at the right time. But it also requires supporting a shared sense of purpose while allowing individuals the agency to craft and shape their own sources of meaning.
Meaningfulness is not a metric to benchmark and improve. Rather, it requires a sustained approach that centers the worker, not just the organizational output. Ultimately, such an approach benefits not only employees but organizations in terms of sustainable growth and productivity.
