Meaningful Work.

“For, in the end, it is impossible to have a great life unless it’s a meaningful life. And it is very difficult to have a meaningful life without meaningful work.” 

In a world where political candidates build campaigns around the word “work”, where the existence of universities is vindicated by what kind of employment graduates may have access to and in a reality where people spend more time in the workplace than home, it is surprising that we don’t question the nature of work more often.

Why, we must ask ourselves, do we spend so much time working but long for vacations, holidays and ultimately retirement? Why is it that we silently go about our whole lives working without giving more thought to how and why we must work, and finally why do we not stop and contemplate if meaningful work, as a human right, involves that work is meaningful on its own and therefore adds value to mankind, or if in the other hand, it is the active involvement of humans what grants meaning to toil.

Work as a social, political and legal concept requires more thought and contemplation, not only because we must have a richer perspective in terms of our relationship with employment and satisfaction but because the coming generations are challenging and rethinking the nature of productivity, mobility and success in life.

As employers, we must more often focus in one of the biggest costs of producing goods and services (the pay roll) and must ask ourselves how and why, we must favor efficiency and flexibility as opposed to presencialism and outdated methods.  As labor and employment consultants we have frequently experienced positive results when giving employees more of a say so in how to perform their duties, in how employer may evolve and improve, and by making sure the personnel has actual opportunities to personally and professionally grow.

In the end, the contemplative action regarding the meaning of work and its repercussion in human behavior is not only overdue psychologically and philosophically, but is actually something that impacts our clients, companies, cities and countries.

We hope that more employers give thought to these concepts and ultimately to how and why employees can work better for an enhanced meaning of work and profit for both, employer and employee.