Why do so many people find their work meaningless?

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

Yes, over and over again. When I started my doctorate, I quickly became frustrated: with my topic, my dissertation, the academic world. I had the feeling that a large part of the research was primarily driven by career thinking and not by what makes sense or has practical use. That’s why I started to look 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 that may cause more harm than good, such as in finance or lobbying – but also by sales staff who sell people things they do not need. And the third refers to people who spend their time inventing useless jobs for others, i.e. managers.

But these are bold claims – these activities and industries do have their justification.

Graeber is also not saying that all of these jobs are pointless. After all, there are numerous bosses who really need assistance and sales staff who sell useful products. The financial sector itself is of course not pointless either. But according to Graeber, the fields of activity mentioned are particularly susceptible to the emergence 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 true. 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 meaningless jobs. Subjective factors can also be decisive for this feeling.

Which are they?

A boring day at work or an annoying boss can lead to frustration and the feeling that your work is pointless, even though objectively it has meaning. This is evident in the transport, production or service sectors: in surveys, people in these jobs often say that their work is pointless. However, those who are satisfied with their working conditions rate the meaning of the same activities much higher.

Do working conditions determine how meaningful you find your job?

 

Partly yes. Alienation from the result of work also plays an important role. Increasing division of labor makes it more difficult in many professions to see one’s own contribution to the product or the company. In particular, 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 work. People who work in a team are much more likely to feel like they are contributing to something bigger. And people who have contact with customers can see directly who they are helping with their work.

So it’s also about appreciation.

What I also find interesting is that my research has shown that employees in the public sector are much more likely to feel that they are doing meaningful work – which contradicts the common stereotype of the lazy civil servant. In the private sector, which is seen as more fast-paced and 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 happiness or satisfaction. Meaningfulness can also mean, for example, that you can fulfill yourself in your job. In my research, I therefore only focused on whether people feel that their work makes 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, and social professions in general. But when you take working conditions into account, another area is at the top: the construction industry. If you think about it, it makes sense – after all, there is always something to be built. Jobs that are perceived as meaningful often do not come from an academic environment.

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

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

So was Graeber wrong with his theory in the end? Are there no bullshit jobs, 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 occupational fields defined by Graeber, a particularly large number of employees actually find their jobs pointless – even if their working conditions and 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 too?

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

Can automation not also be a solution for pointless tasks?

Certain repetitive tasks that people consider pointless could probably be automated. This is more difficult for managerial tasks. The data so far does not suggest that automation is displacing pointless jobs: over the past 30 years, their number has remained relatively constant in Europe.

So what can you do about meaninglessness in your job?

That’s a difficult question. The answer is relatively simpler for the subjective factors. Here, HR departments and management are responsible for making everyday work more pleasant for employees: less routine work, more social interaction, more appreciation, fewer pointless tasks. As a sociologist, however, I am interested in the objective factors, i.e. the actual pointlessness of jobs. There are no easy solutions here. Should we ban business practices that are of no use and, in some cases, actually cause harm? Or do we need stricter regulations?

What role does the industry you work in play?

In science, there are so-called sin industries. Examples include the tobacco industry and the arms industry. Experiments have shown that people in these industries demand significantly more pay for the same jobs – because they are not compensated for their work with meaningful work. If you think your job is pointless, you should ask yourself whether this is due to the circumstances or the work itself. This will determine whether you should change employers, industries or even your entire career. Career advice can be helpful here. Many people often don’t know exactly what they are getting themselves into when they take up a career. That was the case with me too: I had a certain image of scientific work in my head – and then realized that reality was different. You can’t help but question the meaning of it.