The Financial Times today has a piece examining what makes for meaningful work.

The article discusses how a general desire to look further than profits and the bottom line is becoming more widely discussed, despite the fact that defining 'meaningful' is a difficult task.

It quotes a number of comentators and academics who have examined issues of meaningful activity at work, including Richard Sennet, the sociologist, who believes that modern capitalism is causing problems for people, and
Mike Emmott, an adviser to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, who argues that "most work can be meaningful, but it has a great deal to do with how people are managed. Well managed work is meaningful, because the individual's time is well used, there is a degree of autonomy in how they do tasks, they are adequately supported and there is the relationship with colleagues."

The full article can be read here.