Jocelyn Lincoln was not prepared for the weeping.
Lincoln is the chief talent officer for Kelly Services, a global staffing firm, and she’s been in the recruitment business for 22 years. Over that time, she’s witnessed an evolution in attitudes—with candidates talking less about money, and more about things like mission, purpose, and bringing their whole self to work. But then came 2020, an exceptional year on an exceptional number of levels, and Lincoln was granted a front-row seat to a seismic shift that may have forever altered the relationship between Americans and work.
“I remember I told my manager, ‘I have been on more calls with people crying than ever before in my entire career,’ ” Lincoln says. People were fed up, overwhelmed, different. “They became very introspective around what’s important. What matters? What’s sacred to me? What impact do I want to have? What do I want my legacy to be? Am I prioritizing the right things in my life?”
The candidates coming across Lincoln’s desk were interested in not only securing jobs, or good jobs, but Good Jobs. Good Jobs that helped them live better lives. Good Jobs that helped them become more realized versions of themselves. Good Jobs at companies that were helping improve the world, or at least not actively poisoning children or cratering democracies.
In other words, people became more interested in meaningful work. They wanted better answers to the question, Why am I doing this? America’s hallowed pastime is dunking on the young for being unreasonably entitled, but younger workers aren’t driving this change alone. Members of all generations have developed what philosophers call “a will to meaning” in their professional lives.
Evidence is everywhere. Millions have quit their jobs in the “Great Resignation.” Nearly 3 percent of all American workers quit in August 2021 alone. That was a record that lasted until the next month, when even more quit. Millions of jobs languish unfilled as of this writing. But even workers who haven’t quit aren’t exactly thrilled. Depending on the poll, anywhere between 39% and 95% of people were thinking of quitting their jobs in 2021. According to a YouGov poll, 1 in 5 American workers considered their jobs meaningless, and a Harvard Business School study found that 9 out of 10 workers were willing to take less money for more meaningful work.
Employers have struggled to catch up—a 2021 Kelly Services study report found that 27% confess to having no idea what workers want anymore—but they’re not the only ones trying to understand what’s happening. Catherine Bailey, a professor at King’s College London who studies meaningful work, has seen this firsthand. “There’s been an absolute avalanche of interest,” she says. “I get calls all the time from journalists and different professional bodies all wanting to talk about meaningful work in the context of the type of work that they do.”
Being a journalist myself, I had sent Bailey a list of questions in the hope of gaining a better understanding of what
