Finding meaningful work is a need often associated with Millennials and Gen Zers, but this pursuit crosses all generations. When the need is met, employees attain greater work satisfaction and improved motivation on the job, and employers gain improved work outcomes, higher retention and more.
What exactly does this term mean? According to Indeed’s “How to Create Meaningful Work for your Team,” “Meaningful work refers to tasks or roles that provide a sense of purpose, personal fulfillment and alignment with an individual’s values.” In psychiatrist Viktor Frankl’s seminal 1946 book, “Man’s Search for Meaning,” he wrote that the pursuit of meaning is the primary motivational force in humans. This is apparent in the workplace.
“Modern organizations are increasingly coming to understand this truth. People don’t just work for money; they work for purpose, connection, and a sense of accomplishment,” says Benjamin Laker Ph.D., in “The Psychological Need for Meaningful Work.”
By taking this need seriously and working with employees to satisfy it, executive leadership and human resources professionals can better recruit, engage and retain satisfied team members while their organizations reap the benefits. Get started by taking these steps.
Understand What Your Employees Seek
The writing and research on this human need identifies a handful of key components. For instance, Auckland University of Technology professor Marjo Lips-Wiersma’s four pathways to experience meaning provide a good foundation to understand where employees find purpose. Her “Map of Meaning” includes:
- Integrity with self
- Unity with others
- Expressing full potential
- Service to others
“This ‘map of meaning’ covers some of the most significant things employees want from their places of work: values alignment, belonging, teamwork, stretch goals, development opportunities, innovation, and a focus on more than the bottom line,” writes psychologist and emotional intelligence researcher Daniel Goleman.
With these basics in mind, learn from your employees what gives them a sense of purpose on the job. Start with a survey. Ask employees which day-to-day duties give them a sense of meaning and which fit into the bigger purpose of the organization.
Also, sit down with each team member in one-on-one meetings. Ask what projects motivate them the most and why. Have them rank their work tasks by level of purpose. Find out what matters to them professionally and personally. Inquire about their work and personal goals.
Repeat the surveys and one-on-ones periodically to measure progress and identify issues that need attention.
Cultivate Meaningful Work
Armed with a deeper understanding of your team members’ personal values, goals and passions, cultivate meaningful work to support them by quickly adjusting workloads as needed, aligning tasks with personal drivers and creating an environment in which team members feel valued and empowered to do their best work. This will help you build trust with team members because they feel heard and understood, says career coach Tiffany Uman.
Your surveys and one-on-one employee visits may even uncover employees’ hidden talents. Perhaps you can tap into these to benefit your organization while increasing your team members’ job satisfaction.
It is also crucial to provide employees with autonomy and flexibility in their roles to create meaning. “Alignment coupled with control fosters greater purpose ownership,” according to “Finding Purpose at Work: How Leaders Can Help Their Team Discover Meaning,” an overview of several studies on the topic.
I experienced this first-hand as an editor at an environmental agency. Initially, I was charged with minimally editing air quality data reports—a tedious and unfulfilling job at best. But eventually, I convinced my boss I should interview the air quality scientists on my team so I could write accompanying text explaining what the data meant. The resulting reports better informed readers (the ones breathing the air). When given this autonomy, my sense of purpose grew. I relished collaborating and creating with my teammates to help educate the public about their air quality.
Supervisors can also foster meaningful work by assigning stretch projects supported by training. My nephew Chris Howell, a mental health professional, recalls a supervisor who invested time during monthly team meetings and in one-on-one sessions to train him and his colleagues in motivational interviewing, a counseling therapy technique. She also provided tools and mentorship to support them as they learned this approach. “It was impactful in enabling me to find a deeper meaning in the counseling services that I provided to my clients,” says Howell.
Communicate and Align with Organizational Purpose
Employees who understand how their day-to-day work supports their employer’s organizational purpose feel a greater sense of work satisfaction. Yet some organizations haven’t clearly identified their purpose (beyond the bottom line), or they don’t consistently communicate it to all employees on the org chart, much less help them understand how their work fits into the big picture.
“When the company’s purpose is activated and aligned with employees personally, employees are 77% more likely to be engaged at work and report 87% higher intent to stay,” writes Harvard Business Impact’s Stephanie Santos.
Consider whether your organization can do a better job of identifying, defining and communicating its purpose in authentic and relevant ways to all employees, not just to company executives.
One of the best ways to convey your organization’s purpose across the org chart is to acknowledge employees’ purpose-driven achievements company-wide. Check out the It’s Your Career blog post “What Makes a Great Employer Recognition Program” to learn the benefits, especially when the recognized work and behavior align with organizational values.
We all crave meaningful work. Organizational leaders can help their employees find it by understanding what drives team members’ sense of purpose, creatively providing these opportunities, communicating the organization’s overall purpose and aligning employees’ tasks in support of it. This is how leaders lay the foundation to build a happier, more motivated workforce that enjoys their work and produces higher-quality products.
Liz Carmack is an award-winning writer, editor and author of two nonfiction books published by Texas A&M University Press. She has worked as a communications professional for almost four decades.
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