{"id":942,"date":"2017-07-28T07:46:56","date_gmt":"2017-07-27T21:46:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sage-people-scraping-ca.local\/?p=942"},"modified":"2026-02-05T20:16:15","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T09:16:15","slug":"how-meaningful-work-is-key-to-employee-engagement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-au\/blog\/how-meaningful-work-is-key-to-employee-engagement\/","title":{"rendered":"How meaningful work is key to employee engagement"},"content":{"rendered":"<header class=\"entry-header has-dark-background-color entry-header--has-illustration entry-header--has-illustration--generic\">\n\t<div class=\"container\">\n\t\t<div class=\"entry-header__row row align-center\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"col col-lg-7 col-xlg-6 entry-header__content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"component component-single-header\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"entry-header__misc text--subtitle text--uppercase text--small\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-au\/blog\/category\/people-leadership\/\" class=\"entry-header__link\">People &amp; Leadership<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"entry-title-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h1 class=\"entry-title\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\tHow meaningful work is key to employee engagement\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"entry-header__description\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\t<div class=\"single-post-details container\">\n\t\t<div class=\"col\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"posted-on \"><time class=\"entry-date published\" datetime=\"2017-07-28T07:46:56+10:00\">July 28, 2017<\/time><\/span><span class=\"reading-time\"> min read<\/span>\n\t\t<button\n\t\t\ttype=\"button\"\n\t\t\tclass=\"social-share-button button button--icon button--secondary js-social-share-button\"\n\t\t\tdata-share-title=\"How meaningful work is key to employee engagement\"\n\t\t\tdata-share-url=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-au\/blog\/how-meaningful-work-is-key-to-employee-engagement\/\"\n\t\t\tdata-share-text=\"Please read this interesting article\"\n\t\t>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"social-share-button__share-label\">Share<\/span>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"social-share-button__copy-label\" hidden>Copy Link<\/span>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"social-share-button__copy-tooltip\" aria-hidden=\"true\" hidden>Copied<\/span>\n\t\t<\/button>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/header>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-post-author has-dark-background-color alignfull\">\n\t<div class=\"container\">\n\t\t<div class=\"col\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"co-authors\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"entry-author-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t<a class=\"entry-author\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-au\/blog\/author\/charlottepenny\/\">\n\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"40\" height=\"40\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2023\/03\/charlotte-penny.jpg\" class=\"entry-author__image\" alt=\"Headshot of Charlotte Penny\" \/>\t\t\t\t<span class=\"entry-author__name\">Charlotte Penny<\/span>\n\t\t\t<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Having a sense of meaning from work is one of the top three most important factors cited by employees when it comes to job satisfaction and engagement [1].<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When people have a sense of meaning in their work, they become more committed to the organisation they work for and have a greater drive for producing results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What makes a job \u2018meaningful\u2019 will vary from person to person, but businesses can play a key role in delivering great employee experiences, which enable and foster meaningful work across their business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-measuring-meaning\"><strong>Measuring meaning<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>There are three questions that measure whether work is meaningful for an individual, according to Michael Steger, Associate Professor of Psychology at Colorado State University [2]:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Does the work have significance and purpose?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Does it contribute to finding a broader meaning in life?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Does it make a positive contribution to the greater good?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>However, meaningful work doesn\u2019t imply that only careers in the charity sector or at social impact companies can provide meaning for individuals. Meaning can be found in any job according to Steger. Any employer can create meaning within their workplace for their employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"single-cta gated-content\">\n\t<div class=\"single-cta__positioner\">\n\t\t<div class=\"single-cta__wrapper has-dark-background-color\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"single-cta__content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"single-cta__title h3\">Free research report: The changing face of HR<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"single-cta__description\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Seismic shifts in the way organisations operate, work, and manage their people are occurring. We surveyed 500+ HR leaders to discover how they are responding.<\/p>\n<p>Uncover insights on how to stay ahead and transform HR from a process focused function to a people driven business.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a\n\t\t\t\t\t\thref=\"#gate-4ee0a038-cce7-4675-8f22-276fd668b27d\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\tclass=\"single-cta__button button button--primary\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t>Download Report<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1440\" height=\"810\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2022\/04\/GettyImages-1261563841-1440x810.jpg\" class=\"single-cta__image\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2022\/04\/GettyImages-1261563841-1440x810.jpg 1440w\" sizes=\"auto, (min-width: 48em) 33vw, 100vw\" \/>\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-meaning-creators-in-practice\"><strong>Meaning-creators in practice<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>So what are companies doing already to add meaning to their employees\u2019 work?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At Gilead Sciences, 91% of employees report having high job meaning [5]. The work they do is focused on creating new medicines to help people with life-threatening illnesses such as HIV\/AIDs, cancer and hepatitis C. This focus on transforming peoples\u2019 lives contributes to Gilead employees finding purpose in their work. More widely, the company also offers staff tuition reimbursement, backup childcare options and the ability to buy company stock, to show recognition of the work their people do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>eBay encourages its staff to go beyond the work they do in the office and make an impact globally. This includes a \u2018Green Team\u2019 in which employees and eBay sellers work together to improve eBay\u2019s sustainability, as well as each eBay location being empowered to form an employee group \u2013 called a GIVE team \u2013 that assesses local community needs and recommends non-profit organisations that eBay should support through its grants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At Biogen, not only do employees feel like they\u2019re making a difference as the biotechnology firm develops therapies for neurological and autoimmune diseases, but staff are encouraged to give back to their communities. Every year the company holds a \u2018Care Deeply Volunteer Day\u2019 where thousands of employees participate in local community-service projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-it-s-not-just-adding-to-the-greater-good\"><strong>It\u2019s not just adding to the greater good<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Many workplaces consider how employees want to \u2018give back\u2019 at their work \u2013 either through the work that their business does, or through their corporate approach to giving and volunteering. However, this is just one part of creating meaningful work for employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Gen X and Gen Y believe that applying personal passions in one\u2019s career is meaningful, with 55% of them changing career paths to integrate their work and personal life [3].<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Meanwhile, a two-year study carried out by Deloitte found that allowing time for slack, having small empowered teams, selecting the right person for the job, and giving people the tools and autonomy to succeed, all contributed to meaningful work [4].<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At Sage People, we believe things like these are just as important for employees in finding meaning in their work. Companies which recognise this, build great experiences for their workforce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Humans are by nature meaning-makers. Work plays a pivotal role in shaping how we define ourselves so it is inevitable that people will look to their jobs as a source of meaningfulness. The question is: how do you help workers to find fulfilment from their work?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"single-cta gated-content\">\n\t<div class=\"single-cta__positioner\">\n\t\t<div class=\"single-cta__wrapper has-dark-background-color\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"single-cta__content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"single-cta__title h3\">Free research report: The changing face of HR<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"single-cta__description\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Seismic shifts in the way organisations operate, work, and manage their people are occurring. We surveyed 500+ HR leaders to discover how they are responding.<\/p>\n<p>Uncover insights on how to stay ahead and transform HR from a process focused function to a people driven business.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a\n\t\t\t\t\t\thref=\"#gate-4ee0a038-cce7-4675-8f22-276fd668b27d\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\tclass=\"single-cta__button button button--primary\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t>Download Report<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1440\" height=\"810\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2022\/04\/GettyImages-1261563841-1440x810.jpg\" class=\"single-cta__image\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2022\/04\/GettyImages-1261563841-1440x810.jpg 1440w\" sizes=\"auto, (min-width: 48em) 33vw, 100vw\" \/>\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>References:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>[1]&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.shrm.org\/hr-today\/trends-and-forecasting\/research-and-surveys\/Documents\/2016-Employee-Job-Satisfaction-and-Engagement-Report.pdf\">SHRM\u2019s 2016 Employee Job Satisfaction and Engagement Report<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>[2]&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.michaelfsteger.com\/?page_id=105\">Michael F. Steger: Laboratory for the Study of Meaning and Quality of Life<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>[3]&nbsp;Philips Work Life Survey 2016<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>[4]&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/dupress.deloitte.com\/dup-us-en\/deloitte-review\/issue-16\/employee-engagement-strategies.html\">Deloitte Employee Engagement Strategies<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>[5]&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/payscale-best-companies-to-work-for-in-america-2016-4?r=AU&amp;IR=T\">The 50 Best Companies to work for in America<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"single-cta\">\n\t<div class=\"single-cta__positioner\">\n\t\t<div class=\"single-cta__wrapper has-dark-background-color\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"single-cta__content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"single-cta__title h3\">Subscribe to the Sage Advice Newsletter<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"single-cta__description\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Get a roundup of our best business advice in your inbox every month<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a\n\t\t\t\t\t\thref=\"#gate-20ec4af6-53dd-41ab-81ed-95d438e3bb90\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\tclass=\"single-cta__button button button--primary\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t>Subscribe<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1064\" height=\"810\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/01\/GettyImages-626184462-1064x810.jpg\" class=\"single-cta__image\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/01\/GettyImages-626184462-1064x810.jpg 1064w\" sizes=\"auto, (min-width: 48em) 33vw, 100vw\" \/>\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Companies that create a culture of meaningful work and help employees find value in their jobs are likely to boost staff engagement, improve productivity and attract and retain top talent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1660,"featured_media":2168,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sage_video":false,"post_featured_image_hide":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[90,74],"tags":[222],"business_type":[9],"context":[],"industry":[],"persona":[103],"imagine_tag":[261,65,263,25,40],"coauthors":[284],"class_list":["post-942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-managing-people","category-people-leadership","tag-hr","business_type-medium-sized-business"],"sage_meta":{"region":"en-au","author_name":"Charlotte Penny","featured_image":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/11\/Caravan-Center_2019_Sage-X3_Photo-10458.jpg","imagine_tags":{"261":"Employee engagement","65":"HR and Payroll","263":"HR processes","25":"HR software","40":"Mid-sized business"}},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"Sage Advice Australia","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-au\/blog","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-au\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/942","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-au\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-au\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-au\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/users\/1660"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-au\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=942"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-au\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/942\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-au\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/media\/2168"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-au\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-au\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-au\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=942"},{"taxonomy":"business_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-au\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/business_type?post=942"},{"taxonomy":"context","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-au\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/context?post=942"},{"taxonomy":"industry","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-au\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/industry?post=942"},{"taxonomy":"persona","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-au\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/persona?post=942"},{"taxonomy":"imagine_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-au\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/imagine_tag?post=942"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-au\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}