Quiet quitting may no longer dominate headlines, but employee engagement still matters. Reigniting passion starts with making work feel worthwhile.
In recent years, much has been made of “quiet quitting” - the idea that employees do the bare minimum without fully disengaging. While the term has faded from headlines, the underlying issue remains. Even in today’s changing job market, engagement is always an employer’s concern.
But this isn’t just about productivity or presenteeism. At the heart of engagement lies a deeper human need: the need to do work that feels meaningful. When people feel their work has purpose - when they see how it contributes to something greater - they don’t just show up, they commit.
This is where happiness at work truly begins: in the experience of worthwhile work.
People want to feel that their work matters - to colleagues, to their organization, and to society. This sense of purpose fuels motivation, resilience, and wellbeing. Our research shows that feeling your work is worthwhile is one of the strongest predictors of happiness at work, across industries and cultures. It also strongly correlates with feeling interested in and engaged by your role.
Whether it’s a nurse delivering care, a designer solving a problem, or a retail assistant helping a customer, employees want to know their efforts have meaning. As Daniel Pink highlights in Drive, purpose is a core driver of motivation, helping people go the extra mile - and enjoy doing it.
Often impact is there and it’s felt by others, but this isn’t visible to the individual toiling away.
People can lose sight of the bigger picture. Whether it’s because of distance between their role and the final outcome, or heavy workloads and fast paced work, it can be hard for people to see the impact of their work. This disconnect doesn’t mean the work isn’t meaningful - it just isn’t visible.
This means that making work feel worthwhile isn’t just a personal challenge - it’s a team and leadership challenge too.
Here are five practical ways to reconnect employees with purpose and reignite engagement:
1. Remember the why: Encourage regular reflection on how the work people do adds value—to the team, organization, and wider world.
2. Reflect on the positives: Celebrate progress, growth, and everyday wins to reinforce a sense of meaning and shared achievement.
3. Make impact visible: Share stories, feedback, and milestones to show how individual and team efforts make a difference.
4. Recognize unique contributions: Acknowledge each person’s strengths and input to build pride, connection, and appreciation.
5. Link personal goals to team and organizational purpose: Support meaningful goal setting and help individuals align their strengths with your organization’s mission.
Whether we’re talking about disengagement or quiet quitting, the solution isn’t more pressure - it’s more meaning. When people understand the “why” behind their role, when they see their impact and feel part of something bigger, they reconnect with their work.
And that’s when the shift happens - from demotivation to active engagement, from from going through the motions to working with purpose.
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