Is your Job Meaningful?

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Is your Job Meaningful?

Finding a purpose in your job is important for millennials and in fact for everybody.
Nevertheless, many people have a job that they don't regard as meaningful. Therefore, they are not completely satisfied.
This is not really surprising, especially when realizing that many common occupations are not immediately associated with ‘meaning’. Think about jobs like: cashier, sales representative, administrative employee, factory worker.

But, doesn't it just depend on the way people define the word ‘meaningful’ when it comes to having a job? The former mentioned occupations, in the end, also help others within society. When ‘meaningful’ is associated with ‘giving’ and ‘helping others’, it means that nearly any role in any company can be seen as meaningful; each employee contributes to society In his/her own way.

Finding meaning in your job requires reframing the work you perform as a chance to help others, and being conscious about the ways in which your job ‘gives’ to society and/or how it supports yourself or the ones you love.
There are several ways to find the meaning in your job:

1. CONNECTING WITH END USERS: It makes you aware of the way in which your job helps others (the end users).
2. REMEMBER YOUR ORGANIZATION’S OVERARCHING MISSION
3. REALIZE HOW YOUR WORKS HELPS YOUR BELOVED: Even if an organization’s mission does not fit within your definition of ‘meaning’, a mindset that thinks about the ways in which your job supports the ones you love can be helpful in finding a motivation. A study found that those who regard their work as supporting their families were more productive than those that regard their work as ‘not meaningful’.

The main message is that having a job that you do not see as your one true calling does not mean your job can't be meaningful. Reframing your work through the above steps can help you see the relevance of your job.

⇒ How do you think about reframing your job in order to find meaning?

Source: Smith, Esfahani E., (2017), How to Find Meaning in a Job that isn't your True Calling, HBR August 2017.

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		2 Paramathmuni srinivas Kumar India
	Kitten and Cat Perspective of Meaning A cat will shift its kitten by holding it with its teeth at some place in its neck which is safe and healthy to the kitten. If we see from kitten point of view doing so may look meaningless, yet it trusts the mother and survives. From the cat point of view it takes all views into consideration which even humans may miss since it has a sharp vision. And its decision is not only meaningful, but in the best interest of its kitten.

		6 Josephat Olwal Ngesah Kenya
	Is your Job Meaningful? This is an interesting topic and question.I would react to it by asking another question, do you live to work or you work to live? Depending on which side of the divide you belong to, - WORKING TO LIVE may portray a selfish image of caring only about self. I could be wrong. - LIVING TO WORK imposes a sense of responsibility that Anneke has submitted here. This means that as long as you live, you'll ensure you work and produce for your survival and that of others including your closest family. If you belong to this school of thought (where you live to work), I think you leave the world a better place for everyone. If you are in agreement, this should be the source of your joy in everything you do and I am sure you will find work meaningful and purposeful. The impediment to your joy may be scuttled by those you work for or those that are around you. There is a possibility of you finding your job meaningless if you work under a boss and not a leader, or your environment is toxic due to colleagues who do not appreciate you.

		4 Javier Elenes Business Consultant, Mexico
	A Way to Reframe a Job from Makings Products to Building a New Country When I was Managing Director of a bearings manufacturer which was coping with a big challenge, and needed to increase productivity by 300%, I told to our people: "We are not making wearings we are building a new Mexico".

		3 Henegar Director
	Asking yourself "Is my Job Meaningful"? It is good to see a young person at the dawn of her career asking this question. Over the years (4 decades plus), I've noted people starting to discover this as a question of themselves — generally when they are struggling professionally (burn out) or personally for some reason. If asked prospectively, (mentors take note) this can be truly powerful. To the point of mentoring -- that is where I found meaning in my work, and it has been transferable from one job to the next. Sharing what you've learned, raising up your employees and supporting your leaders is the single case that is always a step ahead to personal success and self-actualization.

		3 Doaa Saayed Professor, Lebanon
	Choose a Study and Job you Like In my opinion, choosing a job you like will lead you to having a meaningful job… This already starts from choosing the major of your study. We know some people are obliged to go to faculties they dislike, due to their family's culture or inheritance and as a result they may end up having nothing, just stress.

		4 C.L. Kappagomtula Professor, Malaysia
	Every Job Has Significance and Meaning Attached! We may tend to think, that some jobs have no meaning attached and hence the person doing that job may feel out of place. But this premise is wrong. Each and every job has a meaning and organizations will do well if incumbents for their jobs are 'well initiated' to their job design (JD), job analysis (JA) and job specification (JS). If an individual in any role in an organization understands these three concepts about his / her job, viz. JD, JA, and JS, then not only he / she will have clarity about the job he performs, but enjoy it as well, identifying as a part and parcel of 'indispensable' entity in the organization. He / she will be well motivated towards his work, and feel proud as a positive contributor to the organization.

		1 joseph lemarleni Manager, Kenya
	Asking Yourself: Is My Job Meaningful? It is much okay to say a job is meaningful because of someone's motivation associated in doing the job. But what if I ask this question: Does your job allow you to advance your career? To me, if it does not, then it is meaningless.

		2 Sridhar Gopal Management Consultant, India
	It's All About Alignment! To me as a business consultant and career mentor, I feel a job becomes your energizer when it aligns linearly with what you think, what you do and what you feel. This I feel is a meaningful occupation...

		2 Jose Luis Figueroa Management Consultant, Mexico
	3 Factors for a Meaningful Job A meaningful job is the one that is in line with your professional growth expectation (vision 5 - 10 years). It should include also social contribution and income expectations. If your current job co...

		0 fred siyoi Manager, Kenya
	A Meaningful Job Must Balance Needs In my frame, a meaningful job should satisfy the balance between different competing needs. These are family needs, clients needs (in my case patients), professional growth and ultimately developing ...

		1 anwer abdalla mohammed abubakr Lecturer, Saudi Arabia
	Is your Job Meaningful? Regardless of the job satisfaction, I think it's meaningful to participate and be active in the society (your parents, brothers and sisters, neighbors). The Quran says: "spend what we have given you"....

		1 Oula denis Ignatius Accountant, Uganda
	Meaningful for Whom? Meaningfulness of a job may be looked at from different perspectives. It may be from an employer's point of view, an employee point of view and societal point of view: 1. EMPLOYER. A firm normally se...

		2 Josephat Olwal Ngesah Kenya
	What Motivates YOU in a Job may not Necessarily be what Motivates ME. @joseph lemarleni, you will be surprised what "motivation" means to different people. Different people react differently to different environments or stigma, if you like. Same with motivation. What mo...

		2 S. Lago Business Consultant, Canada
	What is Enough? Job satisfaction is tied to life satisfaction and is different for each individual. Most unhappiness in life is created from unmet expectations. How does this play out? An individual with little educ...

		1 Theophilus Mothusi Melaetsa HR Consultant, Botswana
	Self Management is Key for Making your Job Meaningful to You Is your job meaningful? MEANINGFUL, without searching the word in a dictionary, may refer to a lot of things. But to me, it means does my job make me happy, do I feel I have contributed to the univers...

		2 Maurice Hogarth Consultant, United Kingdom
	Examples of Reframing Meaningful Work Anneke I like the image of ‘reframing’ roles to show people their part in the ‘big picture’. Your topic relates to Job Satisfaction; to the ‘atmosphere’ in which a job is given a meaningful value (by...

		2 Jaap de Jonge Editor, Netherlands
	The Progress Principle of Meaning I think we all agree it’s crucial employees perceive their work as meaningful. In addition, consider the Progress Principle of Amabile and Kramer: "Of all the things that can boost emotions, motivati...