One of our most fundamental human needs is to find meaning—a sense that we impact others and contribute to something greater than ourselves. Yet, in today’s fragmented and increasingly disconnected world, many struggle to find this coherence, leading to heightened anxiety and a pervasive sense of existential dread. One major contributor to this is that traditional sources of meaning, such as religion, community, and familial rituals are no longer as prevalent or accessible as they once were. Additionally, the type of work that most of us engage in today is often abstract, complex, and removed from the tangible impact it has on others. As a result, many people feel disconnected and unfulfilled in their jobs, which can lead to a sense of existential emptiness that permeates every aspect of their lives.
Scores of studies have consistently demonstrated strong connections between the experience of meaningful work and enhanced motivation, engagement, job satisfaction, and overall well-being, including lower risks of heart attack, stroke, and burnout. Harvard Business Review found that over 90% of people would take up to a 23% pay cut for a more fulfilling job. For Millennials and Gen Z, meaningful work greatly impacts retention, with a Great Place to Work study showing people are three times more likely to stay in a job they find meaningful.
How can companies help their employees discover this often elusive sense of meaning? Organizations don't need to be curing cancer or saving the planet for work to feel meaningful—any job can be fulfilling when employees perceive their work as impactful and aligned with a greater purpose. Here are some no- or low-cost strategies that can help infuse a deeper sense of meaning into everyday work:
Get Your People as Close as Possible to the Impact They Make
Leaders should be asking themselves, “How can we get employees closer to the impact their work has?” This may be the impact their work has on their team, other teams, the organization’s goals, customers, the community, or the world. For example, at Medtronic's annual holiday party, former CEO Bill George invited patients who had benefited from the company’s products to share their stories on stage. This powerful experience allowed employees to see and feel the direct impact of their work, as patients spoke about how Medtronic's pacemakers and diabetes therapies transformed their lives. These real-life accounts served as a poignant reminder of the significant difference their efforts made, igniting pride and motivation among employees by showing the tangible impact of their work on real people. So, how can you get people closer to the end product of their work? Collect and share stories across the organization, on the website, and social media, highlighting how employees work with their clients and colleagues. Share what employees liked most about their clients, what problem/pain point they solved, and how their contributions directly impact the customer, the community, or the broader world.
Highlight Their Role in the Big Picture
When people understand why their work matters, it shifts from completing tasks and hitting targets to a purposeful mission. This involves clearly connecting individual roles to the bigger picture. NASA exemplified this by aligning thousands of employees with varying roles around the goal of a lunar landing by building a strong connection between employees' daily responsibilities and NASA’s ultimate aspirations. Leaders focused on one clear objective, reframing NASA’s abstract mission of exploring the solar system, to the specific goal of “putting a man on the moon.” They operationalized this through the "Ladder to the Moon," which leaders scrawled on blackboards (it was the 1960s) in NASA facilities. The Ladder linked daily tasks with quantifiable measures, to the ultimate goal. This enabled people to vividly see how their day-to-day work contributed to NASA’s big, audacious goal.
Rally People Around an Inspiring Purpose
Purpose enables employees and customers alike to fulfill their aspirations of making a difference while engaging with your company. An effective organizational purpose aligns business and societal interests, motivating employees and fostering pride in being part of something bigger.
Discovering a Purpose: A few years ago, I took on a leadership role focused on boosting employee engagement, collaboration, and retention at a customer experience organization. I partnered with leaders and launched a listening tour that revealed a common desire among employees: to positively impact their communities and society. By connecting this aspiration to their daily roles in call centers, we realized that people saw the organizational purpose as "Changing the world one conversation at a time." Because employees helped shape this purpose and could see how to live it in customer interactions, team discussions, and community events, it resonated deeply, igniting passion, improving retention and engagement scores.
Crafting a Purpose: You can draw on tactics from social movements to craft a purpose connected with your audience. Start by identifying a problem your company or industry can solve and define your organization’s role in creating a better future. For instance, one of my healthcare clients recognized the growing unhealthiness in society and high U.S. healthcare costs, leading them to create a purpose that empowered people to take charge of their well-being and fostered partnerships between patients and caregivers. This approach increased employee engagement from 42% to 82% and improved key metrics like readmission rates and length of stay.
Be a Storyteller and Recognition Dealer
Recognition is a powerful yet often overlooked tool in leadership. By actively sharing stories of employees who embody the organization's values and purpose, leaders can highlight the real impact of their contributions. For instance, UPS CEO Carol Tome demonstrates this by writing hundreds of personalized letters weekly to acknowledge employees, such as a driver who saved a homeowner from a house fire. Storytelling not only amplifies the significance of individual and team efforts but also connects their work to the broader organizational and community impact. To foster this, leaders should consistently communicate the importance of each person’s contributions throughout a project's lifecycle. This recognition helps employees feel valued and reinforces their connection to the organization’s mission.
Show Them They Matter
The need to feel connected and valued is so crucial to well-being that the U.S. Surgeon General recently identified it as a top priority for workplace mental health. However, 65% of employees report feeling unseen, invisible, and undervalued at work. If your organization is struggling with motivation, disengagement, or retention, the root cause could be a lack of mattering. Mattering—a sense of being noticed, affirmed, and needed, as defined by Zach Mercurio, PhD—is a fundamental driver of employee engagement and a precursor to finding meaning in work. This sense of mattering goes beyond mere belonging; it underscores the importance of each person’s role in the team’s or company’s success. When employees feel that they truly matter, they are more likely to be engaged, motivated, and productive.
How do you make work meaningful for your people?
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