What is 'Job Crafting?'

The employment landscape has changed significantly in recent years.  Organisations are recognising that to optimise retention and attract talent, offerings need to meet evolving employee expectations.  Beyond the shared fruit bowl and subsidised gym memberships, traditional, top-down incentives might now include flexible and hybrid work arrangements and prioritisation of a healthy workplace culture.  

We devote a significant percentage of our life to our work activities and the return on our investment can optimally nourish our mental health and promote career wellbeing.

If you are considering optimising your career wellbeing, then the notion of “Job Crafting” might be worth pondering.  “Job crafting is a bottom-up approach to finding your purpose at work.  Importantly, it is a shift from your organisation saying what your job is, to you taking charge and personalising your work.”  (www.dewr.gov.au)  

Job crafting is about taking proactive steps and actions to redesign what we do at work.  As a career enhancing tool it may help increase your autonomy, play to your strengths, provide diversity to buffer job demands and create more meaning and ownership in your work.  To find out a little more about what job crafting is and reflect on whether it might work for you in optimising your mental health and career wellbeing, you may wish to refer to the introduction to job crafting resource at Job Crafting - Department of Employment and Workplace Relations, Australian Government (dewr.gov.au)

‘Job crafting’, crafting the job that works for you.