Why We Need Meaningful Work, Not Jobs

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A new vision of good work involves pressuring corporations to make a firm commitment to the places where they do business, and working to end the game of global economic pinball, where jobs are endlessly bumped from location to location. It also requires that we begin to value family concerns, community connections, and ties to the places we live, above the financial gains of job mobility. This is not an easy commitment to make since it may mean missing out on more money or a job advancement. Yet if we continue to prize career success above all other aspects of our lives, we run the risk of becoming little more than global nomads seeking a buyer for our labor and ourselves.

Get Working 

For the vast majority of us, even contemplating liberation from our current jobs seems hopelessly utopian. We'd love to tell our boss to "take this job and shove it," but mortgage and rent notices, insurance premiums, and credit card bills remind us every day why we can't. We're victims of a kind of wage blackmail. For many Americans, this situation is compounded by the fact that buying things we don't really need or even particularly want has become a comfort and compensatory compulsion that helps us cope with jobs offering little meaning.

We can no longer let wage blackmail run our lives. We must seek a vocation that truly expresses our values and fits our needs. Thinking about our true calling, perhaps for the first time, may take considerable time and patience. We've worked for so long at jobs we "have" to do that we often haven't considered the work we want and need to do.

Even when the path becomes clear, embarking on your profession may not be easy. You may have to steal hours from jobs that financial need requires you to keep. You may have to slash your monthly budget to have the time you want. You must also be prepared to face criticism as people scold you for abandoning your responsibilities and sacrificing the well-being of others to "do your own thing."

On the political front, we must push for measures that give workers more paid vacation, greater flexibility in choosing part-time work, a higher minimum wage, and paid leave to care for family. National health insurance is an important step that could free the entrepreneurial energies of workers who stay in their jobs just for the medical benefits.

The calling of good work also involves mentoring young people to seek vocations rather than settling for jobs. Raising children, nurturing families, and volunteering in your community are wonderful vocations in their own right, deserving at least as much respect and support as wage employment. We must also urge teachers, counselors, and clergy to redefine work for future generations, and to understand the vital role good work must play in true education, and in spiritual and mental growth. Ultimately, of course, the most important way we can teach the next generation about good work is by example.

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