Redefining the Meaning and Value of Work
Humans spend about one-third of their waking hours working鈥攃onservatively, about 90,000 hours over a lifetime.
Part of the long-standing Calvin project of preparing agents of renewal for Christ-like service in God鈥檚 world is to help students navigate this significant element of their emerging adult lives. To seek one鈥檚 vocation is a multi-dimensional process of trial and error, self-reflection, and personal growth鈥 all with the understanding that preparation and imagination do not always match reality. Given that, how can professionals flourish in the places and spaces they give the best hours of their days?
Finding the Meanings of Work
Calvin professor of communication Craig Mattson has devoted his own working life to helping young professionals flourish in their jobs.
Mattson conducts research on modes of occupational engagement that help people cope with the pressures of work. He also hosts a podcast called Mode/Switch that offers early to mid-career professionals insight about the challenges, changes, and nuances of modern work culture.
Mattson says his recent research has pointed him to a variety of ways individuals construct meaning and value from their work. Some professionals view their jobs as a way to address social problems, while others focus on nurturing the growth and well-being of those around them. Mattson鈥檚 research has also revealed a small population that simply tolerate work, without finding much meaning in it. They often describe themselves as 鈥減laying a role鈥 that may feel inauthentic to who they really are.
As the nature of work shifts due to cultural attitudes, technology, and more, it鈥檚 time to broaden discussions about it. 鈥淭oday your job could mean so many things. Vocational discourse might need to shift to help people not so much construct meaning at work, but actually kind of manage the meanings of work,鈥 says Mattson, who explains that the reasons people work or choose to enter or leave a particular field can be shaped by a variety of factors like socio-economic status, ethical commitments, and personal needs and priorities.
Times Change, So Do Values
Senior manager of global talent development at MillerKnoll Megan Korber Snikkers 鈥13 says it鈥檚 natural for attitudes about the role and value of work to shift over time and across cultures. 鈥淲ork culture is under the microscope right now, and it鈥檚 changing the expectations employers and employees have of each other,鈥 she says. 鈥淚t requires employers to examine and rethink outdated structures to get the best out of their talent.鈥
Many companies are offering more flexibility in how work gets done. Working remotely, the four-day work week, and unlimited personal time off are just a few ways some organizations have responded to employees鈥 desire to find balance in their professional and personal lives. 鈥淚t鈥檚 more possible to say, 鈥業 don鈥檛 want to work to the bone or deprioritize my family,鈥欌 Snikkers says.
The Great Resignation
Starting in 2021, large numbers of workers began quitting or changing careers mid-stream in the U.S. and elsewhere. This post-Covid phenomenon known as the Great Resignation, the Big Quit, or the Great Reshuffle is yet another sign of shifting attitudes towards work.
Long-time educator Mandy Sytsma Priore 鈥01 spent 20 years in classrooms in the U.S. and overseas when burnout from the ever-shifting demands of her profession prompted her to change careers. Now the director of junior tennis at the Shrewsbury Club in central Massachusetts, Priore maintains a flexible schedule and shares her love of tennis with kids.
A lifelong tennis player who competed on the Calvin tennis team, she says, 鈥淭ennis has always been a passion of mine, but I didn鈥檛 think I could make a career of it.鈥
Two years into her new role, she鈥檚 thriving. 鈥淭o flourish in my career means living out a passion that works best for me and my family鈥檚 needs. At the end of the day, I need to have enough energy to give to my family,鈥 Priore says.
Deconstructing Vocation
Asking questions about the value and meaning of work could yield more answers than it did just a few generations ago, when longevity at one company or at least in one career was the prized norm.
Mattson notes that Millennials, who entered the workforce during the Great Recession and have lived through the institutional instability of the 2010s and 2020s, change jobs, on average, more than previous generations. He says it only makes sense.
Snikkers grew up watching the boomer generation鈥檚 loyalty to their professions and companies yield little payoff in the face of a global recession, but she still entered the work force with similar expectations about how to achieve success. 鈥淭he grind鈥攑ay your dues, raise your hand at every opportunity, go the extra mile, the idea that you can have it all鈥攍ed me to experience burnout,鈥 she admits. 鈥淚t forced me to remember my value in Christ, out- side of the personal and professional roles I fulfilled.鈥
Mattson says the traditional concept of vocation highlights that all work has value. But in his recently published book, Digital Overwhelm: A Mid-Career Guide to Coping at Work (Cascade 2024), he also issues a gentle warning.
鈥淵ou know the whole of your life belongs to God, and it鈥檚 all supercharged with that significance,鈥 says Mattson. 鈥淏ut from that moral realization we could very quickly begin to idolize work. And that tendency is problematic; it could so easily lead to burnout.鈥
Strike a Balance
Young professional Nain Miranda 鈥23, a technology-risk consultant at EY (Ernst & Young) and the co-founder of two start- ups, found himself weighing personal and professional priorities early in his career. 鈥淭here鈥檚 often immense pressure to achieve success as quickly as possible, to prove ourselves as young professionals, and to reach certain milestones at a rapid pace,鈥 Miranda says.
He doesn鈥檛 equate rapid success with flourishing in a career. Instead, flourishing means living a life of faithfulness, especially in times of uncertainty or change. And he should know鈥攈e accepted a job offer, graduated from Calvin, and got married, all within a short period of time. 鈥淣avigating the demands of a new career while also building a personal life has required careful prioritization,鈥 he says.
Wisdom for the Ages
The mother of a four-year-old daughter and six-month-old son, Snikkers agrees. She says reprioritizing the parts of her life she values most鈥攆aith, family, and meaningful work鈥 led to both a mindset and a job change.
鈥淲hatever I do has to be rooted in faith,鈥 she says. 鈥淐alvin gave me the perspective that faith can and should be integrated with all of life, as well as the boldness to believe that Christ鈥檚 example is the best way to do anything. I鈥檝e had a unique opportunity in the workplace to share my faith just by showing up differently, by leading as Christ did.鈥
Mattson, too, emphasizes the capacity of faith and Scripture to help professionals at all points of their careers and in every field make the small adjustments needed to flourish. He cites the books of Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes as relevant sources of wisdom.
Ecclesiastes, for example, nudges readers toward 鈥渉umble gratitude for everyday work, as well as the gifts of community, friendship, and family. We can dial back on our sense that our work is of ultimate importance: enjoy your work, work hard at it, but don鈥檛 put too much value in it,鈥 Mattson says.
Perhaps shifts in how professionals view, value, and therefore conduct work, then, are not new at all, but more of a return to some- thing lost鈥攁nd regained鈥攁long the way.
Find Mattson's podcast, The Mode/Switch, on or .