Employee engagement (Harter, 2021) and wellbeing (Bersin, 2022) remain the hottest topics during the post-pandemic era. The great resignation, “quiet quitting” (Harter, 2022), and the resistance to return to the office (Cutter & Bindley, 2022; Guilford & Overberg, 2022) are troublesome trends that adversely impact productivity, the economy, and wellbeing. Common sense attributes these developments […]
Can organizations create meaningful work for their employees? The answer seems to be…not in most cases. Our research tells us that not only is it exceedingly difficult to achieve this for most employees but focusing on meaningful work is not the best place to start when it comes to retaining and motivating your best and […]
How does one define “meaning” in the workplace? Everyone conceptualizes their own definition of “meaning.” For some, being committed to a job brings meaning because they see their work as contributing to the goals of a larger organization (Myer & Allen, 1997). These individuals see their employment as central to meaningful growth. They find their […]
June 2020 saw many of our corporate professionals struggling with: 1) where their life choices had brought them, 2) what their lifestyles demonstrated in the midst of the lockdown, and 3) what they would do differently once this mess had moved on. As 2022 moved in, a quiet resignation to the new-normal rolled in alongside […]
The COVID-19 pandemic brought our world to a jarring halt. The muscle memory of our day-to-day monotony no longer applied to our slower, quarantined lives. Social media was soon overflowing with documented journeys of new hobbies, like bread baking, painting, meditation, and living room Pilates. Prior to the pandemic, our free time was often spent […]
There is not one big cosmic meaning for all; there is only the meaning we each give to our life, an individual meaning, an individual plot, like an individual novel, a book for each person. Anaïs Nin, 1931-1934 Since the start of COVID-19 many changes have occurred, both in workplaces and in broader societies all […]
The first issue of the monthly Existential Positive Psychology (EPP) Bulletin will be released this July, exclusive for INPM members. It will contain the latest INPM news, provide information about meaning-centered activities and research opportunities around the world, showcase the ideas and publications of INPM members…and much more! Advertisement on the EPP Bulletin is free […]
Karen Henry has been part of the psychology industry since her master’s in community psychology in 1999. In 2007, while beginning her doctoral journey, she came across a now famous article by Peterson and Park (2006). A quote in the article–“The good in life is not the absence of bad”–resonated as a game-changing worldview that […]
“Human history is a bloody one.” – Paul T. Wong (2022) “Fear is what life is all about.” – Samuel Gillian (2005) Not to be morbid, but human history is a bit of a nightmare. And it is hard on the psyche for humans to be aware that no matter what meaning they seek or […]
The search for meaning has been considered “the primary motivational force in man” (Frankl, 1969, p. 121) and constitutes a healthy, natural, and engaging process that is often characterized by an openness to ideas about life (Steger et al., 2008). Recent integrative conceptualization offers a conception of meaning in life that includes three central dimensions: […]