The share of work in the lives of French people is, in the vast majority of cases, significant. So it is best to live one’s working days as well as possible and find a suitable balance between private life and professional life. And for that, meaning at work seems to be a determining asset in how one views one’s missions and in professional well-being. However, what should be done when difficulties arise? How can loss of meaning at work be formalized? Which method should be used to support an employee struggling with this type of concern?

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Work: a full-fledged activity in our daily lives.

Factually, according to statistics provided by DARES in June 2018, French people spend an average of 36.3 hours per week working. Regarding managers, a second study by INSEE published in March 2018 showed that 40% of them exceed 40 working hours per week, and 24% go beyond 45 hours. Significant time investments out of the 168 hours in our week… Not to mention our hours of sleep, another vast topic.

With such volumes of working hours, the question of meaning at work therefore seems legitimate for everyone, especially when it is impacted by issues such as burnout syndromes, managerial difficulties, or more recently Covid and all the changes in how we perceive our activities. Powerful catalysts for loss of meaning at work

“The current crisis, because it calls into question our certainties and the reference points of our society (hierarchy of professions, capitalist economy, globalization), is changing our value system. By restoring value to certain professions (caregivers, cashiers, garbage collectors), we are placing greater value on certain characteristics that give meaning to work, such as the feeling of usefulness and the balance between professional and personal life.” - Élodie Chevallier - Specialist in meaning at work, University of Sherbrooke

Becoming aware, individually, of the meaning one seeks at work is therefore essential for everyone. But what should be done if difficulties arise? How can loss of meaning at work be formalized? What method can support an employee struggling with this type of concern?

What generates meaning at work?

According to Marie Jahoda, a German social psychologist born at the beginning of the 20th century, work, beyond its remuneration function, has latent functions that contribute to our balance. Time structuring, social network, development of our skills, but also construction of our identity and psychological flexibility. In theory, work would therefore be a powerful tool to strengthen our lives, to create meaning.

Closer to us, Estelle Morin, professor in the management department at HEC Montréal, is interested in the notion of meaning at work. For her, work has meaning “when there is consistency between the person and the work they do, when they feel in harmony with what they do every day.” In other words, it is this coherence effect that allows the individual to attach purpose and importance to their professional activity.

So how can this coherence be created, how can we ensure that we view our activity in the best conditions to remain aligned and thus generate meaning at work? To answer this question, Estelle Morin proposes a list of checkpoints and invites us to validate the following statements:

• My work must give me the feeling that I am useful.

• I must have interest in the activities I carry out.

• My moral values and professional ethics are respected.

• I have satisfying human relationships with my colleagues and managers.

• My work ensures my financial autonomy.

• I maintain a balance between my personal life and my professional life.

The goal is therefore to find a balance, specific to each individual, between these 6 markers. We can then speak of “meaning-generating work,” knowing that this balance is never fixed. Indeed, personal occurrences (parenthood, meeting/separation, new commitments, …) as well as professional developments (new management, change of position in the structure, …) will constantly reshuffle the cards of meaning at work.

Design thinking to create meaning

Sometimes, this balance does not occur, opening the door to many questions for the employee in position. Again, nothing is immutable; there are approaches to return to a more balanced situation.

Design thinking, literally the design of thought, is a method initially developed to meet companies’ innovation needs and evolution challenges. Far beyond the notion of “beauty,” it is a way of thinking that places people at the center of reflection.

Indeed, the purpose of design thinking is to create innovative products or services to solve problems for users, consumers, customers, or employees. At Seven, we organize a workshop dedicated to design thinking, Innovating through design thinking, during which participants discover how to be creative at the core of their profession while adopting an innovation process.

Concretely, the process unfolds around 4 major stages:

• The empathy phase, which consists of understanding the other person. In our application, this means putting words to the employee’s thoughts and feelings with the aim of helping them express what they need regarding their situation.
  
  For example, faced with a salesperson who seems tired and less involved, succeeding in getting them to verbalize what they are experiencing. In our case, let us imagine that this listening phase leads to the following statement: “I’m fed up with travel, I need to make fewer trips in my role.”
  
  

• The problem-definition phase, which, through the question “why,” questions the employee to identify the real ins and outs of the situation—what is causing this loss of meaning in their activity.
  
  Returning to our example, it turns out that the root problem for our salesperson is that they do not spend enough time with their family.
  
  

• The creativity phase, which encourages the manager and employee to generate as many ideas as possible to provide a solution to the situation. At the end of this brainstorming, they choose the options that are most suitable/adaptable to the role.
  
  In our example, this could involve considering a reduction of the prospecting area, setting up video meetings, reducing the number of trips per month, developing other sales techniques, …
  
  

• The prototyping and testing phase in which action is finally taken and the selected solution(s) are tested. In light of the discussions and options explored, this means implementing a new way for our salesperson to carry out their activity, then having them test it. Thanks to their feedback, the manager will be able to assess the effectiveness of the method both for themselves and for their employee, and restart a design thinking cycle to refine it as needed.

Managers and employees, beyond the concrete objectives linked to their functions, must daily manage the human dimension inherent in their activities. Having meaning in one’s work is therefore a major issue and, at times, it will be necessary to take time to improve certain situations. Because beyond employee well-being, the entire organization can benefit from taking this question into account.

Design thinking, through its user-centered creative logic, can be an accessible tool for managers who want to support an employee in their engagement and well-being through "meaning".