A good career
What is the impact of your work?
Image: https://80000hours.org/career
A few years ago, waiting while the checkout operator checked out my groceries (I did say this was a time ago), I spotted a small card taped to the till – a company message for the operator. The first item of the supermarket’s communication was (I’m paraphrasing), “The supermarket aims to provide a good return to its shareholders.”
What helps employees connect with their work, as that employer was presumably attempting to do? Anna Sutton, of Waikato University, has shown (in a comprehensive meta-analysis) how employees who see that their work experience enables them to live authentically are more likely to experience both wellbeing and work engagement.
The best measure of authenticity taps into four aspects – one is Awareness (eg, I am aware of when I am not being my true self), and another is Behaviour (eg, I place a great deal of importance on close others' understanding who I truly am). It’s difficult to see how the supermarket’s (somewhat limited) efforts were going to help the operator see how their work was helping them to live an authentic life.
Experiencing being authentic at work has the potential to contribute to our well-being. The people behind the 80,000 hours site (the hours of an average work-life) have researched factors to consider as we plan for our career. This is not a typical career planning approach. Their work is informed by utilitarian philosopher Peter Singer. The emphasis is on the potential impact of what we do in our careers.
The 80,000 hours approach has four dimensions, with three not usually seen in career planning. These impact-oriented factors could help (some people) create jobs where they experience authenticity.
1. Identify pressing (global) problems. For example, positively shaping the development of Artificial Intelligence.
2. Home in on effective solutions. The usual approach to identifying what works would be to look for randomised controlled trials to show what is truly effective. Where the field is still emerging and there is not enough experimental evidence you could use a ‘hits-based’ approach – looking at trends in results so far, indicating what could be some of the better options. A controversial example is evidence that de-worming children results in outstandingly good outcomes for their health and development.
3. Applying leverage. Where will your career provide the highest leverage? Is it in shaping government policy? Building organisational effectiveness in non-profits? Or elsewhere?
4. The fourth dimension is more conventional – Personal fit. The authors leave this vague (though you could try approaches such as My Next Move to identify career interests). This is about having an affinity for the work and a connection with the community doing it.
Peter Singer also suggests, that if you can’t do the world-shaping work right now – get a well-paying job and donate a serious proportion of your earnings to an effective charity. There’s a site for that; The Life You Can Save has identified effective charities.
Buddha bundled his teachings into the Noble 8-Fold Path, of which #5 is The Right Livelihood. According to Walpola Sri Rahula that includes occupations that do not harm others. By extension – occupations that contribute to the well-being of others will help us onto and along the path to an authentic life.
Stewart Forsyth is an organisational psychologist and executive coach and also the author of 21 Remarkable People – available from Amazon or Apple or other eBook sources.