Which Path do You Take to Create Meaningful Work?

There are multiple paths to career satisfaction but finding meaning in your work may be the single most contributing factor to long term satisfaction in the workplace.  According to the post, Getting Beyond Engagement to Creating Meaning at Work, "Those who succeed at creating meaning — either on their own or with the help of their boss — tend to work harder, more creatively, and with more tenacity, giving the companies that employ them a leg up in the marketplace. What's more, study after study suggests that when employees experience meaning, their employers enjoy higher rates of customer commitment and investor interest."

 The question is twofold: As employers, how do you create meaningful work?  As an employee, how do you create meaningful work for yourself?   Business sustainability presents the unique opportunity to increase profitability, gain and maintain a competitive advantage over the competition, and create meaningful work in the process.   The key is in value alignment.  How can organizational values and employee values pair up?   Sustainable businesses with existing CSR and sustainability plans may have it a little easier, but those without can still create value.  Consider the use of the following strategies to align corporate and employee values to create meaningful work.

• Corporate volunteering

• Green teams-   allow participates to meet, collaborate, and discuss on topics unique to their position in the organization.  Namely, issues and areas of specific interest in how it relates to their job, their departments, and the overall organization.

• Create individual employee sustainability programs. The basic premise of a personal sustainability program is to reduce the carbon footprint, lighten the load on the planet as well as reap the benefits of living a more sustainable lifestyle.  Line this up with the corporate sustainability plan and initiatives.

• Educate: Offer ongoing workshops, training, lunch and learns, and educational activities to educate workers on the environmental issues (energy, water, waste, and others) and the associated actions causing the problems.  Identify new behavior and eco actions that individually workers can take to create new patterns of behavior and choices that support environmental solutions and are aligned with the company's overarching sustainability plan. 

  Now, from an employee's  perspective: click here to continue reading.  

Home to one third of the earth's trees, the Taiga is the largest land-based biosphere and encircles the globe. Its immense oxygen production literally changes the atmosphere and refreshes the planet. It is this continuous renewal that has shaped Taiga Company's vision to drive similar change in the business world. Taiga Company seeks to be the "oxygen for your business".

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