The desire of Americans for meaningful work seems to be growing among Americans. The Institute for Faith, Work & Economics recently explored the trend and the reasons behind it.
In 2014, the Barna Group reported that 75 percent of Americans are looking for ways to live a more meaningful life. Many are looking for meaning in “family, career, church, side projects or elsewhere.”
Why this growing hunger for meaning? A Wall Street Journal article explained:
In part, professionals are demanding more meaning from their careers because work simply takes up more of life than before, thanks to longer hours, competitive pressures and technological tethers of the modern job. Meanwhile, traditional sources of meaning and purpose, such as religion, have receded in many corners of the country.
The search for meaning isn’t new. We’re wired to desire something beyond what the world offers us. But now, more than ever, the desire to see the connection between work and lasting meaning has intensified. In 2017, a Globoforce survey found that the number one reason nearly one-third of employees (32 percent) stay at a job is that they find it meaningful.
