Finding Meaning in Your Work: Fulfilment, the Driver We Underestimate

A few months ago, I came across Simon Paré-Poupart’s book Ordures! Journal d’un vidangeur. Paré-Poupart has worked as a garbage collector for more than 20 years and trained as a sociologist. When I closed the book, one thing struck me: this man genuinely loves his work. Not despite what he does, but because of what he understands about it.

In a world where we are constantly trying to improve the employee experience, we sometimes overlook something more fundamental: a sense of fulfilment. Not satisfaction in the box-ticking survey sense, but the visceral feeling of having accomplished something meaningful, something that contributes to a purpose larger than ourselves.

What Exactly Is Fulfilment?

Fulfilment at work is the feeling that what we do matters and aligns with our individual values. It is distinct from pay, benefits, or even formal recognition. It is an inner experience, often hard to name but immediately recognizable. In short, it is the feeling that we are making an impact.

Simon Paré-Poupart illustrates this with surprising eloquence: picking up people’s garbage makes the invisible visible. It means performing a thankless task for society without ever truly being seen or recognized; quite the opposite. Through his sociological lens, he turns a profession that is often looked down upon into meaningful work.

Why Should Managers Care?

Research in organizational psychology confirms it: employees who find fulfilment in their work are more engaged, more resilient in the face of challenges, and less likely to leave the organization. In other words, fulfilment supports both retention and performance.

Few organizations ask the right question. We measure satisfaction and survey happiness at work, but we rarely ask employees whether they feel their work matters. Yet “several studies show that younger generations are no longer satisfied with simply earning a paycheque at the end of the month. They seek work that gives meaning to the time they invest and allows them to have a positive impact on their environment”¹. Organizations therefore have every reason to examine this issue.

What Leaders Can Do in Practical Terms

Fulfilment cannot be imposed, but it can be cultivated. Here are a few approaches to explore:

Connect the role to its impact. Help each employee see the bigger picture and better understand how their work contributes to the team’s results or the organization’s mission. Even the most operational tasks are part of a value chain. Simply articulating that chain can transform how the work is perceived.

Value front-line expertise. Creating opportunities for employees to share their know-how recognizes that they are much more than task executors.

Celebrate small wins: Every source of fulfilment matters, whether it comes from producing essential goods, saving lives, educating the next generation, or delivering the best possible customer experience. Fulfilment also grows out of developing mastery, overcoming challenges, and realizing that we are better than we were yesterday.

Protect meaning at work through change. During restructuring or organizational transformations, meaning at work can erode. Managers who take the time to explain why things are changing and what those changes mean for each person’s role help preserve this source of fulfilment.

An Essential Reminder

What Simon Paré-Poupart teaches us and inspires in us is that no job is too small to be a source of pride. Accordingly, no organization should take for granted the meaning its employees bring to their roles.

As HR professionals, our responsibility is to create the conditions in which fulfilment can emerge and to remind managers that people need to know their presence makes a difference, at work and in life. As a leader, I invite you to consider how your organization’s mission can become a driver of talent attraction and retention.

Source: [in French]

[1] Les millénariaux et la génération Z bousculent les codes du leadership | Revue Gestion HEC Montréal