Why is your staff still working for you? Make work meaningful!

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

If you have a full-time job, you spend about one-third of your waking life at work. In that case, your work should give you a sense of fulfillment. A good salary or a fancy job title in your email signature is no longer enough to be happy with the work you do. People are increasingly seeking meaningful work. According to recent research, this is the goal for 80% of highly educated Americans.

Being part of something bigger

Everyone’s work can be meaningful. Someone who understood this well was a janitor at NASA in the early 1960s. When President John F. Kennedy asked him what he was doing, he replied, “I’m helping to put a man on the Moon.” Or at least, that’s how the story goes. He understood that he was part of something bigger, a cog in a mechanism. That gave his work meaning.

But not all our organizations are like NASA. Not every company has such a clear mission as the American space agency did in the 1960s after Kennedy publicly pledged in 1962, “We choose to go to the Moon in this decade.” For most companies, growth or profit is the ultimate goal, something that is often distant from the everyday work of the ordinary employee. Therefore, it is important to provide your staff with the right context.

Making data visible to everyone

Nobody feels fulfilled if you just toss work over the proverbial fence. Although you may have completed your task and objectively done a good job, you don’t feel much engagement. There is a need for constant feedback so that people can be involved in their work and see their contribution to the bigger picture.

For example, one of our clients has been displaying Power BI dashboards on screens throughout the organization. This way, the company provides everyone with insight into the daily business processes. The result is enthusiastic employees who are better informed, anticipate more effectively, and are more proactive. Another great example is Brooklyn Hospital Center. The hospital uses Netpresenter to bring team performance to the forefront, with positive effects as a result.

Therefore, it is meaningful to keep employees well-informed about everything happening within the organization. If employees ever ask themselves, “Why am I still working here?” the answer should already be known to everyone. Just like that mission to put a man on the Moon.

Curious about how we can increase employee engagement? Contact us for a free demo of Netpresenter. Or download the free self assessment to measure the levels of engagement in your organization.