Meaning of work to public servants who implement employment policies

ABSTRACT

Purpose: To describe the sources of the meaning of work. This research was carried out with civil servants who implement employment policies in the Federal District of Brazil, trying to reintegrate people back into the labor market. 

Originality/value: This work describes how the different sources affect the construction of the meaning of work. We include and test the service user as a relevant source for the meaning of work. 

Design/methodology/approach: Qualitative design. It uses semi-‑structured interviews and content analysis with the previous model based on the Rosso, Dekas, and Wrzesniewski (2010) directions.

Findings: Three of the four proposed sources of the meaning of work were found: Self, Others, and Context. The Spiritual Life source does not arise in the content analysis. The most frequent source was Context, followed by Others and Self. Work Design was the most frequent theme in the Others category. It suggests that the relation between the job and self is core to the meaning of work. Not all proposed themes by the authors emerge in each category. Finally, in the Others source, the service user frequently emerges, indicating its pertinence to the meaning of work. Explanatory hypotheses are discussed for the sources and themes that emerge.

KEYWORDS:

Employment. Sources of the meaning of work. Civil servants. Meaning of work.