The Human Resources Association of Treasure Valley is pleased to announce the October Professional Development webinar program "Meaningful Work: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly and What We Can Do About It" presented by Andrew Soren and Jennifer Jones Hooft. For many, work is deeply meaningful and important in our lives. And why shouldn’t it be? We spend more time at work than doing almost anything else. This session is about how we intentionally design the conditions to support people who engage in meaningful work, and what happens when we don’t.

A lot of research now confirms that meaningful work, work we believe to be significant and worthwhile, is good for individuals and even better for the organizations they serve. It’s associated with increased commitment, engagement, job satisfaction and innovation. It often implies lower absenteeism and intentions to quit. Meaningful work is also a key ingredient for our dignity, well-being and development as human beings.

But not always. Meaningful work can also lead to obsession, the erosion of work-life boundaries, exploitation, alienation, regret, increased stress, and burnout. This is true especially when meaningful work is used as an organizational tool to increase motivation, performance, and commitment. From this perspective, recent workplace trends like the Great Resignation and Quiet Quitting, could be seen in part as a mass response to a gap between what organizations ask of their workers and what they offer in return. 

We’ll offer an alternative vision of meaningful work rooted in equity, ethics, and the realization of personal potential. From there, we’ll showcase positive, evidence-based examples of inclusive organizational cultures, human resource practices and leadership styles that promote meaningful and decent work. We will also explore individual strategies for finding meaning, engagement and fulfillment at work.

ABOUT OUR PRESENTERS

Andrew Soren is the founder and CEO of Eudaimonic by Design, a global network of facilitators, consultants and advisors who share a passion for well-being and believe organizations must be designed to enable it. We harness the best of scholarship and years of experience to design systems that unlock potential and bring out the best in people.

For the past 20 years, Andrew has worked with some of the most recognized brands, nonprofits, and public sector teams to co-create values-based cultures, develop positive leadership, and design systems that empower people. He is on the board of the International Positive Psychology Association and recently co-chaired its 8th World Congress on Positive Psychology. Since 2013, Andrew has been a part of the instructional team at the University of Pennsylvania’s internationally renowned Masters of Applied Positive Psychology program. Andrew is an ICF certified coach. He is based in Toronto, Canada.

Jennifer Jones Hooft, MAPP, M.Ed., SHRM-SCP, is the founder and CEO of Higher Resources, providing HR consulting, executive coaching, and culture building expertise to employers in the Pacific Northwest. 

She speaks and trains on an array of topics spanning Growth Mindset to Building Success through Positive Habits. She has been on faculty with Boise State University for 25 years and applies positive psychology principles to help organizations foster cultures of wellbeing. 

Jennifer is an HR professional with 30 years of experience helping make workplaces great places. She joins Andrew Soren and over 600 alumni of the University of Pennsylvania’s Master of Applied Positive Psychology program in promoting human flourishing through amplifying strengths and focusing on the best in everyone.

The Human Resources Association of Treasure Valley is recognized by SHRM to offer Professional Development Credits (PDCs) for SHRM-CP