Public service is often associated with making a difference. Many people are drawn to careers in the public service because they want to contribute to something larger than themselves, whether that's improving services, supporting communities, or helping shape public policy. But what happens when employees can no longer see the value or impact of the work they do?
In their FT50 article, The Experience and Implications of Meaningless Work in the Public Sector, published in the Journal of Business Ethics, University of Ottawa Telfer School of Management Professors Samia Chreim and Silvia Bonaccio, and Adjunct Professor Christopher Belanger, explore the experience of meaningless work among Canadian public servants. Their study sheds light on what happens when employees feel disconnected from the purpose of their work and why these experiences matter not only for individual well-being, but also for workplace culture, employee engagement, and organizational effectiveness.
The Problem
Public service is often associated with serving the public good. As a result, many assume that public sector work is inherently meaningful. Yet Belanger, Chreim, and Bonaccio found that some public service employees do not always experience their work as such. Some participants described feeling disconnected from the purpose of their work, uncertain about its value, or unable to see how their efforts contribute to meaningful outcomes.
They suggest that these experiences are not simply individual frustrations or isolated workplace challenges. They uncover that these experiences often emerge from broader organizational and structural conditions, including bureaucracy, limited autonomy, unclear decision-making processes, and work perceived as having little impact.
From their findings, a key question emerges: What happens when employees no longer see meaning in the work that they do?
Insight/Findings
To answer this question, Belanger, Chreim, and Bonaccio spoke with Canadian public servants who self-identified as experiencing meaninglessness at work. Their findings challenge the assumption that meaningfulness and meaninglessness are simply the opposite of one another.
Instead, they suggest that meaninglessness is a distinct workplace experience with its own characteristics and consequences. Participants' experiences of meaninglessness within their workplace generally fell into three categories:
Uselessness: work perceived as having little value or impact.
Powerlessness: feeling unable to influence decisions or outcomes.
Senselessness: difficulty understanding why certain tasks or processes exist.
Together, these three common experiences shaped how participants viewed their work and their role within the public service and their ability to contribute to meaningful outcomes.
What stood out most to Belanger was that "the public servants we interviewed cared a great deal about their work and contributing to the greater good, but felt trapped in situations where it was impossible to live up to their public-service ideals. Everyone wanted to do things that matter, but their work environment made it feel impossible."
Evidence and Impact
The impacts of meaningless work extend far beyond dissatisfaction.
Participants described feelings of frustration, disappointment, guilt, and self-doubt. Many entered the public service with a desire to contribute to a greater society, making the experience of meaningless work particularly difficult to align with their sense of purpose and professional identity.
Employees responded to their perceived meaningless work in different ways. Some actively looked for opportunities to make their work feel more meaningful, whether by taking on new projects or focusing on aspects of their jobs that aligned with their values. Others became increasingly detached from their work, describing a tendency to "check out" mentally or do only what was required.
These responses matter because they can influence the factors that help organizations perform effectively, including employee engagement, motivation, commitment, and workplace culture. In other words, meaninglessness is not only an individual experience. It can also become an organizational challenge.
Takeaways
For public-sector leaders, the findings offer an important reminder: meaningful work does not automatically result from working in service of the public good.
Rather, employees need clear connections between the work they do every day and the outcomes they are trying to achieve.
This means helping employees understand the purpose behind their work, creating opportunities for meaningful contribution, and ensuring that organizational processes support rather than undermine employees' sense of value and impact.
The lesson is not that every task must be exciting or inspiring. It is that employees are more likely to be engaged when they understand why their work matters.
Ultimately, the study suggests that fostering meaningful work is about more than improving employee well-being.
As Belanger explains "the most critical takeaway for public service leaders at all levels is that you can play a positive role in preventing work from becoming meaningless by showing connections between work tasks and larger goals, by making space for workers to exercise some autonomy in their roles, and by giving clear reasons for decisions. Not every task has to be exciting, but no task has to be meaningless."
It is about creating the conditions that allow public servants to see the value of their contributions and, in turn, support a more engaged, effective, and resilient public service.
About the author — Arianna Chua
In September 2025, Arianna was hired through the work-study program to work in the Telfer Research Office as Administrative Support; her responsibilities include content creation for the Telfer Knowledge Hub, data management and analytics, and administrative tasks. Arianna is currently working towards a Joint Honours Bachelor of Social Sciences in Public Administration and Political Science.
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