Working takes up quite a lot of our weekly hours. In fact, in our lifetime, it is predicted that we will spend close to 90,000 hours of our lives working. So, if you are not fulfilled and satisfied at work, that’s a hefty chunk of your life to give away for something you don’t want to.
Source: Gettysburg
As an employee, feeling fulfilled can have a significant impact on your mental well-being, and for employers, having happy staff is always in your best interests. For this reason, we have created an article that explores ways employees can feel more fulfilled at work.
We’ve also included information on how feeling fulfilled can benefit you. Read on now to find out more about fulfillment at work.
81% of Dissatisfied Employees Pretend To Be Happy At Work—Here Are The Strategies To Find Fulfillment
Satisfaction levels are a key indicator of employee morale. As an employee, if you are unfulfilled at work, you may feel unmotivated and stressed out.
Below are a few ways that employees may find fulfillment in their work long-term to boost overall job satisfaction.
1. Work In Line With Your Values 🙏
Your values are inherent to the core of who you are. For this reason, if you work in line with them, you’re likely to lead a more fulfilling and authentic life. It will keep you motivated and engaged with your work and help you to connect meaningfully with your work.
This may seem simple, but quite a lot of the time, people work in roles that are accessible to them and make them enough money to survive. However, in these cases, you can still work with your values to ensure you have a fulfilling job, even if it’s not something you want to do.
For instance, your company may place a lot of importance on customer service. You, yourself, may value human connection and a chance to make others happy. These two values work together easily if you commit to offering the best customer service to your clients and ensuring they are getting what they need from you.
Even if you work in a job where the company culture doesn’t motivate you, you can still flip company values to fit with your own.
2. Set Goals and Stick to Them 🥅
Source: Research Space
Often, we can find fulfillment when we’re committed to achieving specific goals. Setting goals and sticking to them drives employees to focus on their work and can even boost satisfaction and engagement. But what kind of goals should you be setting?
When setting any kind of goal, you should always engage with the SMART acronym. This method of goal setting ensures that you set realistic and measurable goals so that you don’t lose focus or motivation.
Goals you may set can range from making a certain number of sales in a financial quarter or getting a promotion you want, to developing your skills in an area that you are new to or even changing your career totally.
As an employer, you may consider trying to motivate employees by implementing goals during 1-2-1 meetings or progress updates.
3. Identify Your Needs 🔎
Source: ThoughtCo
Anyone familiar with Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs will understand that there are different levels of satisfaction and different needs that need to be met to achieve this level. There are five levels of human need, namely, physiological, safety, love and belonging, esteem and self-actualization.
To feel as fulfilled and satisfied as possible at work, you need to be self-actualized. But how exactly do you do that? Take a look below to learn more about meeting these needs at work.
- Physiological: In its most basic form, this requires you to have vital services and opportunities at work. For example, do you get enough break time? Do you have a place to drink water and refuel? Do you have a comfortable work environment? In all honesty, if your workplace isn’t meeting these needs, it might be time to move on.
- Safety: At work, this can refer to physical safety but also emotional safety. Do you feel safe and supported in your role? Are you worried about being laid off?
- Love and belonging: Wanting to feel a sense of belonging is human nature. So, if at work, you constantly feel on the outside, you may not feel engaged. Companies that offer social activities and relationship-building tend to have more engaged employees. Consider ways you can connect more with the people you work with.
- Esteem: This refers to the belief that you are contributing to a higher goal and that that contribution is recognized. If you don’t feel like your work is recognized, then it could be time to look for a new workplace or have hard conversations with management. As an employer, it is essential that you acknowledge employee work, and it can be done easily through annual reviews and 1-2-1 catchups.
- Self-actualization: At this point of fulfillment, you would feel empowered and encouraged to grow. It can make a vast difference to employee engagement if you have employees who are self-actualized. If your role is not pushing you to develop professionally and grow, you may not have the opportunity to reach this stage.
If you’re reading this and understanding that you may feel a sense of safety and belonging at work, but you don’t yet feel like you’re acknowledged or trusted, it might be time to set some goals, speak with your supervisor, or consider a career change altogether.
In most cases, working with your management team can help you to feel more fulfilled at work. After all, it is in their best interests that you feel motivated, too. However, some jobs may not meet your needs in the most basic sense. If this is the case, consider how new roles might meet your needs.
4. Accept New Opportunities and Step Outside Your Comfort Zone 🎯
Experiencing new things can help you to grow and may open you up to new interests and experiences. If you’re feeling stagnant, accepting opportunities and tasks that are outside of your comfort zone can bring new energy to your day.
When we discuss growth in the workplace, it doesn’t always mean moving upwards. You may have found that you like the current level you’re sitting at and the responsibilities you have, but growth can mean moving in a range of directions. You may find that you have skills that can be used in other areas of your work when accepting new responsibilities that open you up to new roles.
Source: LinkedIn
When you step outside your comfort zone and into your growth zone, you open yourself up to new experiences and the chance to live a more fulfilled life.
5. Change Your Career 🆕
If you’ve gone through this whole article and reached the conclusion that your current role will never fulfill you, it is time to begin a search for a new role or career. To find a role you find fulfilling, you must work out what it is you want from your job first.
Make a note of your values and the needs that you want your role to meet, and start looking for roles that align with them.
Why Does Fulfillment at Work Matter? 🤷
Source: Haiilo
For employers, the reward for having fulfilled staff is everything from better engagement to motivation to profits. But what is the benefit for you and your mental well-being as an employee?
Feeling fulfilled at work is great for enhancing positive emotions and your overall well-being. It can help you to feel more joy and ensure you’re in a more balanced state of mind. Feeling a sense of fulfillment will also help to reduce stress, enhance your confidence levels, and improve your relationship not only with yourself but with those around you, too.
Conclusion
Feeling fulfilled at work can ensure that you go in each day feeling motivated. It can boost overall mental well-being and ensure that you progress in your career in the way you want to.
If you’re feeling unfulfilled, look for ways to align your work with your values and ensure that your workplace is meeting your needs. If you find that you cannot feel fulfilled at work in your current role, consider looking for alternative employment.
Are you an employer looking for ways to boost employee engagement and productivity? Check out our solutions here at MyTommy now.
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