What do people really want in their work? Meaning and stability

Despite a social media trend of younger workers saying they want mindless work that allows them to clock in and out and live their lives, research suggests people of all ages largely crave a deeper purpose on the job.

In APA’s survey, 93% reported believing it’s very or somewhat important to have a job where they feel the work has meaning. Fortunately, most workers felt their jobs met the mark. Indeed, “mattering at work,” which is defined to include meaning and dignity, has been listed by the U.S. Surgeon General as one of the “five essentials” for mental health and well-being in the workplace.

If you’re not seeking value from your work outside of a paycheck, Wrzesniewski asked, “then where is that sense of meaning or that sense of accomplishment or that sense of development and learning and pride coming from?”

“If there’s not an available other domain in life in which that’s happening,” she said, “then I think it becomes a pretty closed and unfulfilling loop ultimately.”

The search for meaning shouldn’t be a privilege limited to white-collar workers, Lambert said. “Everybody wants to have a job that uses their skills, that allows them to take pride in their work,” she said. “Think of the electrician, think of the plumber, think of the craftsmen who used to be able to make something and put their name on it. Those are incredibly rewarding jobs.”

[Related: Employees really value making a difference at work. Here are 7 tips from psychology to get them there]

But meaning is self-defined: For some, earning a paycheck is richly meaningful alone, Blustein said.

Meaningful work can also coexist with firm work-life demarcation, something employees increasingly say they want, but that the pandemic further blurred, according to Tammy Allen, PhD, a distinguished university professor in the University of South Florida’s Department of Psychology who studies work-life balance. Indeed, APA’s Work in America survey found only 40% said their time off is respected.

That’s problematic for all parties since, Allen said, “some detachment from work makes people be able to be better workers and to be able to bring their best selves to work, as opposed to being perpetually on and overworked, which can result in burnout.”

She’s found that simple so-called temporal boundary management tactics can help people set boundaries between work and home. Shutting down the computer at the end of the day and taking breaks during the day, for instance, can make a big difference in improving employee mental health.

[Related: 2023 Work in America Survey: Workplaces as engines of psychological health and well-being]

Wrzesniewski’s research on “job crafting,” meanwhile, demonstrates how employees can weave their own values and interests into their work to keep them more engaged. For example, an accountant may implement a new way to file taxes to make the job less repetitive or a teacher who moonlights as a musician may reframe their lectures as a performance. People who successfully job craft, other work has found, are more likely to have their needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness at work met, and they also report better subjective and psychological well-being (Journal of Happiness Studies, Vol. 15, 2014).

“Try to start to build up and out from where you are to run these small experiments and make these small moves that may become bigger moves that get sustained and cemented into changes in your role over time,” she said.

Still, much of the onus is on employers to design roles, cultivate work environments, and support relationships that help staff find purpose, belonging, and ultimately, more security. Policymakers, governments, and health care providers also have a responsibility to support workers’ mental health through population-wide, not just individual, interventions a recent article in The Lancet argues (Rugulies, R., et al., Vol. 402, No. 10410, 2023).

The good news, psychologists say, is that employers are waking up to this reality, which also supports their bottom line.

“Organizations are realizing they need to adapt to the needs of their workers,” Blustein said, “and that would be a very positive trajectory for the future.”