If you could pick one thing you most wanted out of your job and your life, what would it be?
While many of us chase money, prestige, and recognition, the single most important thing you can achieve is meaning. Having a purpose in everything you do makes every day valuable and every outcome, good or bad, worthwhile.
Barbara Miller is a consultant who studies the workplace and the quality of workers’ lives for high-tech companies.
Barbara explains, “The global marketplace is requiring organizations to be open around the clock now, and that is changing both the work and the lives of high-tech employees.”
Barbara warns companies that they cannot overlook the strain they place on families when the workday expands or becomes limitless. She reports that many companies talk about work-life balance but then don’t practice it. “Just putting in work-life programs isn’t going to help people have work-life harmony. We’ve really got to take a look at the way organizations are structured and change our workplaces accordingly.”
Barbara found one organization in which all its engineers were on call every weekend in case of a client emergency. “Anyone could be called away from their families at any time. They could never really relax because they didn’t know if they were really off or not. Turnover was very high because many of these people questioned why they would want a job that prevented them from having a life.”
Ultimately, Barbara’s recommendations were followed, and a new policy was created. In the new schedule, weekend shifts were staffed voluntarily by workers who received weekdays off in return.
Feeling there is meaning in your life is eight times more likely to produce satisfaction than is a high income.
King and Napa 1998