Individuals are reinventing themselves amid the massive changes Covid-19 has wrought on the world. Abdul Maliek Fagodien of Cape Town is but one example: He turned into one of the country’s biggest Covid-19 ambassadors after his own father succumbed to the disease. First he warned people about the dangers of Covid-19. Then, he joined forces with several organisations to help communities withstand the devastation of the disease – from calling for, and receiving, mass mask donations to helping with feeding up to 400 people at a time. Fagodien is among many people who have had a serious rethink on how they spend their time. This Wall Street Journal article highlights how four workers found purpose and meaning in their jobs during the pandemic. – Fadia Salie
As pandemic slows business, workers fret: Is my job relevant?
By Lauren Weber
(Wall Street Journal) – Months into a pandemic that brought businesses to a standstill and upended daily routines, many workers are wondering: Does my job matter?
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Workers not on the coronavirus front lines haven’t faced the same health risks as those in crisis-critical jobs. But many people who are crafting marketing plans, processing invoices and otherwise toiling from home are confronting existential questions about the meaning of their work amid a world in turmoil.
The professional network Blind conducted a survey for The Wall Street Journal in May, and found that 26.7% of nearly 2,000 respondents agreed with the statement, “I’m not considered essential or don’t think I am, but I’m still working. My work doesn’t feel particularly important or meaningful.”
In April, roughly one-quarter of American workers felt that Covid-19 had threatened their job security and opportunities, according to a survey of 1,099 workers from the Society for Human Resource Management. As businesses begin to reopen and call back workers, some may now be feeling better. Employers added 2.5 million jobs in May, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, though 21 million people remain unemployed.
The pandemic has led some workers to question positions that gave them a sense of purpose just months before. For Luke Sanders, who leads a production line at Tesla Inc.’s plant in Fremont, Calif., some discomfort set in while riding out a two-month furlough at his father’s house in Jupiter, Fla., after the factory temporarily closed in late March.
“I picked up and moved to California because I was passionate about transitioning to sustainable energy,” says Mr. Sanders, who is 24 years old. “I felt like that was an important job.”
Coronavirus and the California lockdown suspended his work. “You couldn’t have dozens of people in a closed production space,” he says. “The perspective of how important or noble a job is kind of changed with this new essential and nonessential divide.”
Mr. Sanders returned to California in May when the factory reopened, but with a different perspective on his job. “I definitely still feel like we need to get away from fossil fuels, but it’s almost like this pandemic, it took over,” he says. “People’s lives are at stake right now. Transitioning to cleaner forms of energy, that’s for the future.”
Companies may have to address the angst some workers feel about their relevance and the purpose behind their jobs. Decades of research show people crave a sense of purpose to feel motivated at work. Without the coffee dates, meetings and camaraderie of time with colleagues, “you’re left with the work itself,” and if the work starts to feel wanting, it can lead to painful reckonings, says Amy Wrzesniewski, a Yale School of Management professor who studies how people create meaning in their work lives.
“These shocks are opportunities for people to think, ‘Does my work matter? And do I matter?,’ which is really the question underlying all of this,” she says.
The current protests focused on police brutality and racism have added to the sense of reckoning, adds Ms. Wrzesniewski, leading people and corporations to examine whether they have been complicit in perpetuating inequality. “I see a lot of people questioning themselves,” she says.
