We are working constantly, but to what end? There is a quiet crisis of meaningless work

Their days are filled to the fullest: meetings follow meetings, messages keep coming in, and tasks are completed. Much of this activity is not tied to clear outcomes, but to visibility, signalling responsiveness, attendance, and progress. At the end of the day, a quiet question whispers: what did I contribute?

Only about 20 per cent of employees' report being engaged at work, according to Gallup, costing the global economy nearly 9 per cent of GDP. It is tempting to blame the generation or the individual. Maybe they are spoiled, lack focus, resilience or ambition. That explanation is incomplete.

Work feels meaningless because activity is being decoupled from visible, valued impact. Many professionals grew up expecting work to offer growth, purpose, and meaningful impact yet when it feels unnecessary or disconnected from real outcomes, motivation falls and emotional exhaustion rises.

Artificial intelligence is sharpening this tension. While it is already delivering measurable productivity gains, with around two-thirds of employees using AI reporting higher efficiency, it primarily reduces routine and shifts our effort towards more complex tasks.

In other words, if more output can be generated with less effort, and productivity is no longer our constraint, then the question is no longer how much we produce, but what kind of contribution still feels meaningful.

As routine work becomes easier to replicate, it becomes less valuable, and what matters is contribution that cannot be reproduced: thinking differently, taking a stance, and creating, connecting, or challenging in ways that count.

Many organisations have not caught up with this shift. When contribution is not recognized, people do not disengage, they redirect their efforts and become more selective about where effort feels worthwhile, including the rise of side projects, creative work, and high-intensity hobbies.

Research on “serious leisure” shows that people actively seek identity, mastery, and visible progress - or a clear connection between effort and outcome.

At work, that clarity is often missing. A quiet rebalancing takes place, where work still provides structure, income, and opportunities, but it is no longer carries the full weight it once did.

For organizations, this is both a risk and an opportunity. The risk is creating environments where people contribute but hold back their energy for elsewhere; effort being directed toward activity that sustains the appearance of work rather than its impact.

The opportunity is to rethink what is valued. The future of work will reward what is scarce: judgment, creativity, courage, and perspective. People are still willing to invest deeply and work hard, but they are making conscious choices on where that investment goes.

And that choice is telling us something important: that in a world where productivity is abundant, meaning becomes the real differentiator.

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Katleen De Stobbeleir is Professor of Leadership at Vlerick Business School.

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