The One Thing We All Want from Work: Meaningfulness (Part Two)
Satisfaction, fulfillment, and purpose are all things we want to be able to get out of life. In fact, many of us make very extreme and pivotal decisions in order to achieve outcomes we believe will be able to provide us with them. We engage in social, recreational, spiritual, and other activities to bring us closer to a meaningful life as well as discard old habits and behaviors which appear to be an impediment to doing so.
Our professional careers should also be created in order to align with our values and to focus around objectives we find meaningful. In Part One, I discussed how many employees seek out careers which they felt “called” to do. Those who feel these deep connections to their work perform better, are more committed to their organization, and are generally happier in life. Unfortunately, a Gallup poll from a few years back stated that 70% of employees are unengaged at work, which signals that they not getting the type of meaningfulness on the job that they should if they are committing so much time, 40 hours a week for decades, to going to work.
It’s mindboggling that anyone would continue to invest their time, efforts, and talents to a job they that. What’s worse is that this has become the norm. There are a number of reasons as to why people do and I’ve summed up a couple of common ones.
Attitude Towards Work – General attitudes towards work can stem from a number of aspects of life. It can be socialized through family values, culture, community, educational and professional experiences, and so on. Often times, there is a combination of these principles that shape any deeply-held views and how we approach our work is just one. Attitudes towards work are primarily seen through generational lenses in the workplace. Depending on the era an employee may have started working, their approach may vary greatly. For some, they go to work with the sole intention to bring home a paycheck regardless of what the work entailed or what the environment was like. For others, they require career they enjoy with large benefits that allows them the opportunity and the flexibility to live a better life overall. Attitudes towards work are certainly ingrained in us and they can explain how people continue to spend years in a job that doesn’t provide them with much meaning.
Comfort – Another main reason why people find themselves in meaningless jobs is because they don’t dislike it enough to find another opportunity. The pain points which would cause them to jump to another opportunity just don’t exist to the level which would cause them to explore what else is out there yet. Additionally, there may be other factors such as compensation, pending promotions, social networks, and other incentives of the workplace that may have perceived benefits that outweigh the discontent that someone feels from the job itself. For some people, that’s simply enough. Attitudes towards work can influence whether or not someone needs to be satisfied with their job or just comfortable with it.
Social Gain or Pressure – We all know that there are career paths that have a higher level of prestige within society than others. These jobs often require higher levels of education and have harder skillset to master but also have much higher rewards. These include much higher pay than most professions as well as a much high quality of life with the standard. There may also be a level of social recognition within one’s family, community, or other network that comes along with it. The feeling or idea that comes with being someone well educated with a highly-regarded job may be a part of the benefit that comes with being in a profession that might not be personally fulfilling someone. There may so be an added pressure from family members or peers to remain in the profession due to the rewards, or even just the social status, which makes leaving even harder. In such situation, someone is allowing other people to dictate the remainder of their career but, unfortunately, it does happen.
Lack of Skills – One reason many people stay in career that do little for them personally is simply because the lack the necessary skills required to enter into a profession which would be better suited for them. Employers typically measure someone’s skills by a combination of experience, education, and credentialing. There is both a time and monetary investment required to transition into a new career field. Even with educated professionals with years of work experience, a transition from one function to another may mean making their transition at a lower salary in order to gain the skills necessary to start a new career. In such cases, it’s often seen as easier, and even necessary, to stay in a career that can meet your standard of living in the present time than exploring something different that they may enjoy more.
Fear – Lastly, there is fear. The transition into something new always brings a level of uncertainty. There is a fear of making a transition and it not living up the expectation you expected. There’s a fear of being in a worse off situation than the one you left. There’s a fear of not being able to afford your lifestyle anymore if you transition requires taking a pay cut. There’s a fear of not being good enough. Most of the above reasons have an element of fear associated with them. It’s the fear of making the wrong choice. It’s easier to deal with the beast you know than the beast you don’t know and that fear of failure can keep people contained in careers that aren’t meaningful when there could be something better out there for them.