A common misconception about meaningful work is that it is the same as happiness.

Leaders have spent billions on programs to try to keep employees happy and engaged.

Taking their cue from Silicon Valley start-up culture, many offer unlimited vacation days or give away free snacks—stocking fridges with kombucha, craft beer, and nitro cold brew.

Happy hour outings on the company credit card are commonplace, along with team trips to karaoke bars and escape rooms. The theory is that fun places to work would attract and retain better talent.

Snacks, games, and team-building trips are all fine, but the happiness they create is fleeting at best. These types of extrinsic motivators—the proverbial carrots—aren’t great tools for increasing and sustaining engagement.

According to recent research, even financial rewards such as higher salaries, commissions, and bonuses can backfire and decrease engagement by turning meaningful work into work that feels transactional.

When every effort is tied to a payout, the focus shifts from contribution to calculation. People begin asking, What’s in it for me? instead of Why does this matter?

True Meaningful Work

True meaningful work emerges not from perks, but from people. It’s built through genuine human relationships, shared goals, and the belief that one’s work contributes to something greater than oneself.

This is where community becomes central—employees thrive when they feel connected to others who care about the same mission and values.

It’s only when organizations reorient from meaningless perks to community can they truly foster a culture of sustained engagement, purpose, and meaning.

In such cultures, employees don’t just show up for a paycheck—they show up because they believe in what they’re building together.

__________________________________

Well Being Journal adapted the above excerpt from Meaningful Work: How to Ignite Passion and Performance in Every Employee. Copyright © 2025 by Wes Adams and Tamara Myles. Available from PublicAffairs, an imprint of Hachette Book Group, Inc. Reprinted with permission.