Give Your Employees the Opportunity to Do Meaningful Work

We’re back to looking at some of the key points made in the book Impending Crisis by Roger Herman. According to Herman, one of the biggest ways to attract and keep high-quality employees is by giving them the chance to do something meaningful.

People don’t want to get up every day and go to a place where they’re doing what they feel is “just a job.” They want to know that they’re making a difference, whether it’s in the lives of customers, clients, the general public or otherwise. They want to be able to see firsthand how the work that they do impacts other people.

Another aspect of this is that they want to be able to do work that is meaningful to themselves. We have already talked about growth and opportunity as being primary factors for good employees to stay in a job — that sort of growth and personal enrichment makes a person’s work that much more meaningful.

So what can employers do to help make work more meaningful? You may try letting your employees get more involved in the design of your work or the strategic planning of your business to help them get more invested and give them more of a hand in the kind of impact your company has. You might attempt to do more outreach work within a community, or sponsor local events. Simply giving people a chance to make a difference can also make a difference in your workplace.