Fixing Work: A Tale about Designing Jobs Employees Love

Work is broken. But it can be fixed. Most employees are not engaged in their work. Turnover rates are increasing. Productivity is stagnating. Why? Because when designing work, we rarely consider the deep-seated human need for meaningfulness, autonomy, and feedback. Drawing from decades of research, executive and entrepreneur David Henkin and management consultant Thomas Bertels take us on an investigative journey to solve this problem and make work more productive, satisfying, and meaningful. Through their allegorical tale of a typical office with typical employees, they allow us to see ourselves in the characters while learning strategies to create better jobs and perform at higher levels. By empowering his team with these methods, manager Jerry provides a road map for us to fix what’s broken at our own companies. Fixing Work is a clarion call for managers and executives at all levels. Instead of treating employees like automatons and discouraging creativity, ownership, and engagement, we should rethink how work gets done and structure jobs to be intrinsically motivating. Not only does motivational work design increase employee engagement; it also improves productivity and the customer experience, strengthening the company as a whole—a triple win.