Bullshit Jobs

Meaningless work, that is, the so-called. Bullshit Jobs, are characterized by a lack of meaning, a destructive psychological impact and a lack of value. Increasingly, they become part of the professional experience of working people. A book by David Graeber, an American anthropologist, Bullcrap Jobs: The Theory The report of 2018 distinguishes five types of meaningless work that are performed in society.

Meaningless works: 5 types

David Graeber describes several types of professions that have no value and become meaningless laundry. They often exist to sustain certain economic and social structures. To BullshitJobs includes:

• Venues (Flunkies) Employees whose sole purpose is to make someone else, in a senior position, feel more important (e.g. receptionists in offices where they are not really needed, assistants to senior management, whose participation is only decorative).
• Bandits (Goons) — people employed for activities that require persuasion or manipulation techniques that would not exist if others did not employ similar employees (e.g. lobbying, telemarketing, corporate legal teams engaged in endless disputes).
• Patchers (Duct Tapers) Employees who “patch holes” and deal with problems that would not exist if the company were better managed (e.g. IT workers dealing with errors resulting from inefficient systems, helpers fixing bureaucracy errors).
• Dozers (Box Tickers) — people who are only concerned with meeting formal requirements that have no real impact on the work (e.g. employees creating useless reports, managers inventing unnecessary procedures).
• Supervisors (Taskmasters) People who manage the work of others in an unnecessary way or create additional tasks where they are not needed (e.g. unnecessary mid-level managers, consultants introducing strategies that are not useful to anyone).

Data

To analyze the feelings of employees performing meaningless work, in 2015, researchers from the Universities of Cambridge and Birmingham conducted a study, the results of which were published in the journal Work, Employment and Society. The analysis showed that a significant proportion of employees perceive their work as socially useless. Among US respondents representing 21 different professions, 19% said their work “never” or “rarely” gives them a sense of making a positive impact on the community and society.

Most often, such feelings occurred in the business, finance and sales sectors - in these industries, employees were more than twice as likely to find their work useless compared to other professions. Managers were 1.9 times more likely to receive such an assessment, and office assistants 1.6 times. Importantly, even after factors such as work routine, autonomy or quality of management were taken into account, the nature of the profession still mattered. The only profession identified by Graeber as useless in which no statistically significant evidence of such feelings was found was law.

Similar opinions, albeit to a lesser extent, were expressed by office assistants and managers. Interestingly, work was most often perceived as meaningless by those employed in the private sector, while in the public and non-profit sectors such a belief appeared less frequently.

The study also confirmed that the way one perceives one's own work is influenced not only by its nature, but also by factors such as alienation, unfavorable employment conditions and social relations.

Effects and countermeasures

Studies have confirmed that the lack of a sense of usefulness at work negatively affects the psychological well-being of employees. The data collected during the analysis were compared with the WHO well-being index. People who found their work unusable scored lower on the index compared to those who felt their work mattered. The feeling of uselessness of the work performed was influenced by factors such as lack of respect from management, limited autonomy or lack of support from colleagues.

To counteract the development of meaningless work, it is worth implementing specific actions, such as changes in the organizational structure. This may include optimizing and refining professional roles, eliminating hierarchical positions that legitimize meaningless work, and evaluating effectiveness through the verifiability of the tasks performed and their results. In an organizational culture that does not want BullshitJobs, it is also worth taking care of the autonomy of employees who feel the importance and responsibility of their position.

summary

Meaningless works (BullshitJobs), as David Graeber describes, can negatively affect the psyche of employees and lead to a feeling of lack of value in work, especially in the business, finance and sales sectors. To counter this phenomenon, it is essential to implement organizational changes, increase the autonomy of employees and eliminate redundant positions that do not bring real social value.

Sources

1. https://www.pap.pl/aktualnosci/news%2C1604865%2Calarmujace-wyniki-badan-wiele-osob-uwaza-ze-ich-praca-nie-ma-sensu.html
2. https://www.britsoc.co.uk/media-centre/press-releases/2023/august/many-people-feel-they-work-in-pointless-bullshit-jobs-research-confirms/
3. https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/one-in-twenty-workers-are-in-useless-jobs-far-fewer-than-previously-thought