The Vocational Meaning and Fulfillment Survey : a new tool for fostering employees work-life balance and career sustainability

Abstract

It is not easy to know what constitutes meaningful work for each employee, or how to use that knowledge to support work-life balance and sustainable careers. Organizations and career professionals therefore need comprehensive and practical tools to chart employees’ person-career fit in terms of meaningful work. In this chapter, we introduce a new Vocational Meaning and Fulfillment Survey (VMFS) which aims to enhance an employee’s work-life balance via career counseling, as well as organizational development. The VMFS assesses the extent to which employees find their current job fulfilling with respect to seven dimensions of vocational meaning. We also present clear empirical evidence as to how vocational meaning-fulfillment fit versus misfit across different VMFS dimensions relates to indicators of career sustainability. The VMFS is therefore recommended as a screening instrument to pinpoint which specific factors to focus on in order to improve employees’ work-life balance and career sustainability through meaningful work.