We’ve reached peak perk inflation.
Cold brew on tap. Summer Fridays. Unlimited vacation no one actually takes. A meditation app subscription you never opened but still feel weirdly guilty about.
And still, people are leaving.
Still, people are tired. Numb. Ambitious in theory, but deeply unmotivated in practice.
Because here’s the thing: no amount of ergonomic seating or branded fleece vests will make your job matter if it doesn’t actually mean anything.
We don’t want more swag. We want to feel something.
Meaning is not a ping-pong table
You know what feels good at work?
Being trusted.
Being seen.
Being given a project that stretches you and knowing your manager won’t ghost you when it gets hard.
You know what doesn’t?
Being micromanaged by someone who read half a book on leadership and now ends every sentence with “circle back.”
Getting praised for your “positive energy” while your actual skills are ignored.
Being invited to a team-building escape room when what you really need is a day off and no Slack messages.
You can’t snack your way to purpose
Free snacks are great. So are offsites with decent wine and agendas that end early. But those things don’t build real engagement. They build tolerance.
People stay when they feel useful.
Not busy. Not flattered. Useful.
That doesn’t mean heroic. Or perfect. It just means they can draw a straight line from their work to something that matters—to the business, to the team, to the customer, to themselves.
Without that? You’re just decorating the void.
What actually matters (and always has)
Give people clear goals.
Then get out of the way.
Let them make decisions. Let them be wrong without being humiliated. Let them contribute without having to perform likeability on top of competence.
Pay them properly.
Promote them when they’re ready—not when it’s politically convenient.
Ask what they need. Then shut up and listen. Then act like what they said mattered.
You’d be surprised how far that gets you.
We’re not hard to please. Just tired of pretending.
We’ve all done the dance.
Nodded through an “employee experience” initiative designed by people who haven’t had a real one-on-one with their direct report since 2019.
Filled out the anonymous survey that wasn’t actually anonymous.
Attended the mandatory fun.
Smiled through the re-org.
Read the email about culture and felt exactly nothing.
Most of us aren’t asking for a utopia.
We just want to do good work with decent people and not feel like we’re being manipulated by a 47-slide deck in Canva.
Meaning is not complicated. It’s just rare.
It’s knowing your work has a point.
That you’re not invisible.
That your time isn’t being wasted on deliverables no one reads.
It’s a manager who actually reads your updates.
A colleague who has your back.
A project you care about, even a little.
And maybe—just maybe—a job that doesn’t make you feel like you’re trading your life away, one “quick call” at a time.