Meaningful Work is Essential for Survival

Meaningful Work is Essential for Survival
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Article Link: /2023/02/16/why-some-young-laid-off-workers-arent-rushing-to-find-new-jobs.html
Meaningful Work is Essential for Survival
The re-occurring theme in the five chapters is the importance of meaningful work in employees’ and organizational survival. Weitzner (2021) notes that spiritual work is characterized by meaning, cooperation, and creativity. As such, work must be meaningful to ensure employees are not exploited, as in a capitalist system. Yet, a lack of meaningful work has been a challenge in the current workforce. Many people want to find meaning in their work and workplaces, so some employers have incorporated mindfulness as a strategy for creating meaning at work. Working adults spend a lot of their time at work and, as such, are bound to ask what their contribution is. They also need to know that they are receiving a return on investment. But, Weitzner (2021) posits that using mindfulness to find or create meaning at work might not be the best strategy. Whether this is true or not, it remains evident that creating or finding meaningful work is an elusive endeavor. A recent CNBC news article by Liu (2023) revealed that most laid-off workers felt at peace and relieved after losing their jobs and are now more focused on pursuing meaningful work. Some employees were already experiencing burnout and stress, and the layouts were wake-up calls for them to pursue more fulfilling careers, even outside of formal employment. They are risking earning lower income so that they can have meaningful careers. According to Achor et al. (2018), 90% of employees across different age groups are willing to earn less in exchange for meaningful work. People are more concerned about the impact of their work on society, which indicates there is potential for large social change. Thus, organizations must find ways to ensure their employees experience meaningfulness at work. However, what is considered meaningful work varies across employees, making it difficult for employers to truly create meaningful work. Organizations that are unable to provide meaningful work risk losing talent and overall productivity. Although the definition of meaningful work varies across the workforce, organizations must create meaningful work to improve employee well-being and organizational outcomes.
The pursuit of meaningful work is beneficial to employees, organizations, and the larger society. However, the creation of meaningful work hinges on how employees define or view meaningful work. Organizations cannot create meaningful work for employees if they do not understand what employees consider meaningful work. For instance, different generations across the workforce define meaningful work differently. According to Weeks and Schaffert (2019), millennials, who are also referred to as Generation Y, define meaningful work as one that provides them with fulfillment, a sense of connectedness, and personal happiness. It also challenges them and allows them to help others. Thus, for them, jobs that will enable them to interact with others while directly offering help would be meaningful. Generation X believes that meaningful work is one that provides them with career progression and allows them to maintain a good balance between work and personal life (Weeks & Schaffert, 2019). They defined work as meaningful if they could attain some fulfillment in the form of career goals and growth without losing their autonomy and flexibility. Baby Boomers define meaningful work as work that provides them with personal satisfaction, success, and the ability to help others (Weeks & Schaffert, 2019). They believe meaningful work should allow them to achieve their personal goal while assisting others in achieving their goals. There is a clear difference in the definition of meaningful work across the three generations. Generation Y value personal happiness, Generation X value work-life balance, and Baby Boomers value achieving success in their work. Generation Y and Baby Boomers seem to both find meaning in helping others, a value that is absent among Generation X. Due to these generational differences, organizations must organize their meaningful work creation efforts based on the generations in their workforce. Failure to do so would render their efforts useless. These differences also illustrate that organizations must actively create meaning because their workforce keeps changing. As Weitzner (2021) posits, finding meaning at work cannot be passive. It is imperative to actively find or create meaning instead of leaving this responsibility to fate. If the source of meaning provided in the workplace is not working for a particular generation of the workforce, organizations must explore other sources of meaning. They must also consider how future generations will define meaningful work because, as Weitzner (2021) posits, prospective employees will provide solutions to the unanticipated mistakes of tomorrow.
Additionally, meaningful work is perceived differently within the workforce. For some, meaningful work is defined through the lenses of a psychological state (Bailey et al., 2019). In this sense, work is considered meaningful if it contributes to self-actualization, realization, and development. This would contribute to job satisfaction. For others, meaningful work is viewed through the lensed of workplace spirituality. According to Bailey et al. (2019), this view considers meaningful work as work that provides the employee with a sense of joy and importance and connects them to others, which contributes to the greater good in society. Weitzner (2021) believes that this type of meaningful work can be achieved, but not through secular mindfulness. Some define meaningful work from a humanities tradition and consider meaningful work to be both objective and subjective (Bailey et al., 2019). This view posits that meaningful work is one that provides employees with the ability to serve others, cooperate with others, express themselves, and develop themselves. At some basic level, it aligns with Weitzner's (2021) view of meaningful work in that it acknowledges the importance of cooperation with others as a source of meaning at work. Finally, some define meaningful work through an occupation-specific lens, where different occupation provides different meaning to workers (Bailey et al., 2019). For instance, workers in the nursing occupation find meaning in different things compared to workers in the hospitality occupation. Based on this occupation-specific view, what is considered meaningful work varies across professions. Thus, organizations and employees must actively create and find meaningful work based on their occupation to avoid having a dissatisfied workforce.
Despite the differences in the definition and perception of meaningful work, there is agreement that employees with meaningful work experience improved well-being. This is an important aspect to consider in a capitalist system where the pursuit of profits comes at the expense of personal well-being and development (Weitzner, 2021). Meaningful work has been linked to improved mental health among workers. According to Allan et al. (2018), employees who find meaning in their work experience less job-related depression. Finding meaning in work acts as a buffer to work-related stress, minimizing the depression that arises from such stress. It also enhances self-worth and makes employees feel good about their work, eliminating any depressive symptoms that occur when a person feels worthless. Meaningful work gives people a sense of greater purpose that goes beyond personal satisfaction and fulfillment. This sense of greater purpose is instrumental in promoting inclusive capitalism. Allan et al. (2018) further reveal that meaningful work, associated with increased job satisfaction, improves mental health by reducing anxiety. Most employees work in a fast-paced environment that puts pressure on them, increasing their anxiety. However, meaningful work gives employees a sense of control, so they are not always anxious and scared.
In addition, meaningful work is linked to reduced work burnout. Burnout is associated with poor employee well-being as it affects their emotional, physical, and psychological health. According to Tan and Yeap (2021), job burnout occurs when employees experience high job demands that exceed the resources available ...