What gives you a sense of meaning in your work?

I have two answers!
For my day job - I'm intrigued by the psychology behind what I do and (more importantly!) why other people do what they do. I work for organisations where I believe that I can make a difference and help people 'be better', either at an individual level or at an organisational one. To do this effectively I find sharing values with the business helps.

For my other job - I want to make peoples' experiences better. Fuelled by my own rubbish experience and subsequently by my amazing experiences - I want other people to share that and, again, I believe I can help people do that.

IME the people who are able to ascribe meaning to their work are extremely privileged. Firstly to be able to look for work that they find meaningful, and secondly to be able to turn down work that they don't. Not all people are in that position.

I have two answers!
For my day job - I'm intrigued by the psychology behind what I do and (more importantly!) why other people do what they do. I work for organisations where I believe that I can make a difference and help people 'be better', either at an individual level or at an organisational one. To do this effectively I find sharing values with the business helps.

For my other job - I want to make peoples' experiences better. Fuelled by my own rubbish experience and subsequently by my amazing experiences - I want other people to share that and, again, I believe I can help people do that.

IME the people who are able to ascribe meaning to their work are extremely privileged. Firstly to be able to look for work that they find meaningful, and secondly to be able to turn down work that they don't. Not all people are in that position.

Hi Meg,
I also have a Psychology background so I love researching people's behaviour in the workplace. I agree that it's a privilege to be able to find a job that's meaningful and fulfilling on a personal level, rather than just a way of making money.
I wonder if work can still be meaningful if you don't share the values of the organisation?

I think it wouldn't be impossible, but a lot more difficult certainly!

I can attest to that. I would not advise anyone to do that unless the "pay off", whether financial or psychological, significantly exceeds the emotional energy expended.

Do the "values" of the organisation matter as much to the vast majority of employees as we in HR seem to think they do? I have no firm answer either way but if you are building cars, processing Community charge payments, selling phone tariffs or collecting refuse how important in the scale of things are the values?

If the answer is 'no'... they are probably robots already.

Not sure I entirely agree Steve Bridger on this one. The point is that work is not the be all and end all tovsone people that sone in HR or writing management books seem to think. For some /many it’s about a place to simply earn cash to live outside work. And whilst it’s nice that work in a friendly team and to not be stressed by the work it is sadly for many something to be endured rather than enjoyed.

We spend ages on things like company values but the question remains in reality dovthey matter anywhere near as much as we think they do for the vast majority of people? I remain to be convinced to be honest and no I don’t think that makes people robots but simply reflects the position in their hierarchy of needs that work holds and that the organisations aims, goals and vision has far less relevance to them than paying the bills.

I agree with a lot of what you say, Keith - particularly with regards 'paying the bills'. I certainly agree with Ray in that a challenge for employers is to ensure employees see the meaning in their work through the impact that is has. Hopefully a positive impact.