Why do so many people find their work pointless?

Mr. Walo, does your own job sometimes seem pointless to you?

Yes, again and again. When I started my doctorate, I quickly became frustrated: with my topic, my dissertation, and the academic world. I had the feeling that a lot of the research was driven primarily by career thinking and not by what has meaning or practical use. That’s why I started looking into the topic of bullshit jobs.

What is a bullshit job?

The theory goes back to the anthropologist David Graeber. He made the claim that there are jobs that are objectively bullshit because they do not benefit society. Roughly summarized, Graeber names five categories, three of which can be assigned to specific professions: The first concerns jobs that only exist to make someone else feel important, such as assistants or receptionists. The second includes jobs in which more harm may be caused than good, for example in finance or lobbying – but also by salespeople who sell people things they don’t need. And the third refers to people who spend their time inventing useless activities for others, i.e. managers.

But these are bold claims – these activities and sectors of the economy have their justification.

Graeber also doesn’t say that all of these jobs are pointless. After all, there are numerous bosses who really need assistance and sales employees who sell useful products. Of course, the financial industry itself is not pointless either. But according to Graeber, the fields of activity mentioned are particularly susceptible to the creation of bullshit jobs.

If you work in one of these areas, you are more likely to doubt the meaning of your work. And yet many people in completely different professions feel the same way.

That’s correct. Various surveys in Europe and the USA show that between 5 and 37 percent of all employees feel that they are not making a meaningful contribution to society in their job. All professional groups are affected by this to a certain extent. However, Graeber’s theory only deals with objectively pointless jobs. Subjective factors can also be decisive for this feeling.

Which are these?

A boring day at work or an annoying boss can make you feel frustrated and see your work as meaningless, even though objectively speaking it has meaning. This is evident, for example, in transport, production or service: in surveys, people in these professions often say that they find their work pointless. However, those who are satisfied with their working conditions rate the meaning of the same activities much higher.

Do the working conditions determine how meaningful you find your job?

 

Partially yes. Alienation from the result of the work also plays an important role. Due to the increasing division of labor, it is becoming more difficult in many professions to see one’s own contribution to the product or the company. Especially people who carry out repetitive routine work, for example in manufacturing or mechanical engineering, often hardly see the value of their own work as a small part of the whole.

Does the trend towards home offices also contribute to this alienation?

Yes, definitely. Social interaction has a big influence on how you perceive your own work. Those who work in a team are much more likely to feel like they are contributing to something bigger. And anyone who has contact with customers can see directly who they are helping with their work.

So it’s also about appreciation.

What I also find interesting: My research has shown that employees in the public sector are much more likely to have the feeling that they are doing meaningful work – which contradicts the common cliché of the lazy civil servant. In the private sector, which is seen as faster-paced and more productive, many more people believe they have a bullshit job.

But meaning can mean something different to everyone. Doesn’t that make it difficult to measure the meaningfulness of jobs?

Meaning is actually an individual matter and much more difficult to define than, say, happiness or contentment. For example, meaningfulness can also mean that one can fulfill oneself in one’s career. In my research, I therefore only focused on whether people feel that their work is making a contribution to society.

What are activities that people consider to be particularly socially meaningful?

On the one hand, there are the obvious candidates: healthcare, nursing, general social professional fields. But when working conditions are taken into account, another area comes out on top: the construction industry. If you think about it, it makes sense; after all, there is always construction to be done. Careers that are perceived as meaningful often do not come from an academic environment.

Does this mean that academic careers are less useful? Or do academics simply think more about questions of meaning?

I think to some extent both are true. Let’s think of the classic hierarchy of needs: First, basic needs must be met and the income must be sufficient for a good life. Only when you have the luxury of thinking about questions of meaning do they become relevant. Looking for meaning in your career is of course a phenomenon of prosperity. But that doesn’t make the topic any less important. People suffer when they find their work pointless.

So was Graeber ultimately wrong with his theory? Are there no bullshit jobs at all, just bad working conditions?

Yes and no. Working conditions undoubtedly have an important influence that Graeber did not take into account. However, if you compare people with similar working conditions, it becomes clear that in the professional fields defined by Graeber, a particularly large number of employees actually find their job meaningless – even if their working conditions and the environment are good. According to my research, this applies to jobs in office assistance, sales, finance and management.

Does that mean there are too many managers – and do they see it that way?

I know this from my personal environment: people are promoted to higher positions and first have to figure out their tasks. Then they ask themselves why they are even needed. I think that in some cases unnecessary positions are actually being created – for example because senior management lacks an understanding of what is necessary. But career thinking also plays a role. Artificial advancement opportunities are created for people who have been working at a company for a long time.

Can’t automation also be a solution for pointless tasks?

Certain repetitive tasks that humans consider pointless could probably be automated. It’s more difficult when you’re a manager. In any case, the data so far does not suggest that automation is displacing meaningless jobs: their number has remained relatively constant in Europe over the past 30 years.

What can you do about meaninglessness at work?

That’s a difficult question. Answering the subjective factors is relatively simpler. Here, HR departments and management are responsible for making everyday working life more pleasant for employees: less routine work, more social exchange, more appreciation, fewer pointless tasks. As a sociologist, however, I am interested in the objective factors, i.e. the actual meaninglessness of jobs. There are no easy solutions here. Should we ban business practices that bring no benefit, but rather harm in case of doubt? Or are stricter requirements needed?

What role does the industry you work in play?

There are so-called sin industries in science, after the English word for sin. These include, for example, the tobacco industry or the arms industry. Experiments have shown that people demand significantly more salary for the same jobs in these industries – because they are not compensated for their work by a meaningful activity. If you find your job pointless, you should ask yourself whether that is due to the circumstances or the job itself. It depends on whether you should change employer, industry or even your entire career. Career advice can be helpful here. Many people often don’t know exactly what they are getting into when they take up a career. That’s how it was for me: I had a certain image of scientific work in my head – and then had to realize that reality was different. You can then ask yourself the question of meaning.