Five ways to use ‘job crafting’ to transform your job

Most of us spend a considerable chunk of our life at work. Hence, it’s understandable that our job enjoyment significantly impacts our wellness overall. But depending on where you work, it might be an area of your life where you don’t feel as if you have much control over it.  

That’s where job crafting comes in.  

 Job crafting refers to a concept where people shape and personalise their work, often in small ways, to align their job to their passions, strengths, and interests.  

It’s not about finding the perfect job but about making your current job more and more personal. The concept helps us look for ‘micro changes’ we can make in our existing roles to make them a better fit for us. 

I recently spoke to Rob Baker, founder of workplace consultancy ‘Tailored Thinking’ where he holds the title of Chief Positive Deviant. Rob has a Master's degree in Applied Positive Psychology from the University of Melbourne and over 15 years of senior HR leadership experience.  

In this post, I’ll share Rob’s job crafting expertise and discuss its impact on many workplaces over the past 20 years.  

You’ll also learn five ways to use job crafting in your own workplace and consider how we can all use these tips to make our roles more engaging and meaningful. 

How does job crafting work? 

Jane Dutton and Amy Wrzesniewski first coined the term job crafting in 2001. Their original study looked at engagement with a university hospital context across various roles. 

Among 27 cleaners, they discovered hugely different scores in terms of job engagement. Those with minimal engagement found the low autonomy work to be menial and low status. 

Those with high engagement understood that their work helped patients get better by creating a sterile environment. They saw their role as an essential part of the community, allowing them to connect with patients and their families informally. 

In general, those with low engagement often describe their job as you would see it in a job description. Those with high engagement see their job beyond the basic tasks. For example, one hospital cleaner who enjoyed their job found meaning in helping lost family members find the right corridor.  

This, in essence, is a form of job crafting - this cleaner crafted both the way they viewed their job as meaningful, in addition to crafting their job tasks by regarding helping others as an essential part of their job. 

Fast forward to 2023, and job crafting now has over 160 peer-reviewed academic studies! There is powerful evidence that this field can make a big difference.  

The five main ways to ‘job craft.’ 

First, take a step back and think about how you do your job and what it entails. How do you actually spend most of your time at work? 

 For example, an athlete spends less than 5% of their time competing, so the bulk of their job is really reflecting on their technique, training, and so forth.  

These questions might help you discover the areas of your job that you can personalise or improve: 

·         What things about your job and activities do you love doing? 

·         What tasks drain your energy, and why is that? 

·         What interactions do you have? Which drain you, and which people give you energy? 

·         Do you feel connected to the work you do? 

·         Which parts of your job really matter to you? 

·         When do you get feedback that makes you feel like you’re doing a good job or having an impact? 

Really step back and reflect. 

Job crafting can take many forms, but I've listed the five main ways to do it below. Think about each of these areas, and see if there are ways you can make micro changes within them to improve your job. 

1.Tasks 

Task crafting involves altering the type, scope, sequence, and number of tasks that make up your job.  

·         It can be helpful to let colleagues know your hobbies, skills, and interests outside of work - even if they don’t seem relevant. You never know when a manager or team member might be struggling with something you enjoy, and be grateful that they have a colleague they can ask to help them with it. 

·         Sometimes, when you learn what tasks different team members enjoy, you can simply swap them. At other times, there are tasks nobody enjoys. This is an excellent opportunity to cooperate and do it as a team.  

 Rob talks about an employment lawyer he met who had begun organising book clubs. On paper, book clubs don’t sound like part of the job description for an employment lawyer. 

 But he saw it as a way to build on existing and form new relationships - which WAS part of his role. This activity helped create client opportunities and expanded his network around creating events or activities where he could invite people. 

 He just thought of a way to do it in a way that mattered to him. He drew on something he was passionate about (novels and books) and found a way to tie it to his job.  

2.Skills 

 When we use our strengths, we’re more likely to feel engaged with our work.  

·         What skills would you like to gain or refine? Are there areas of your job that would allow you to improve them?  

·         Some companies provide free training courses or will even provide a mentor. Alternatively, you might be able to take on more tasks related to this area, so you’ll refine these skills incrementally over time.  

·         In a similar vein, what areas of expertise do you already have? Perhaps you’re great at creating reports, leading workshops, or creative thinking. If you can demonstrate these skills in small ways, you might be able to make them an increasingly large part of your role.  

3.Relationships 

 You can craft your job relationally by altering who you interact with. How can you reframe, amplify, or diminish relationships you have at work?  

While we’ve all had to deal with a colleague we didn’t ‘click with’ at one point or another, we can try and adapt how we interact with people to give us energy instead of draining us. 

·         If a colleague drains you, try to keep most of your interactions via email. Similarly, if a colleague gives you energy, make an effort to walk across the office and chat face-to-face with them (or schedule a short meeting if they’re very busy)! 

·         Suppose you’re a great energiser who values meaningful relationships. In that case, you could build deeper connections with your clients or employees by learning more about their lives and interests outside work. In turn, this will help you create a positive atmosphere within your team. 

4.Purpose. 

Cognitive crafting - or purpose crafting - involves modifying how you interpret the tasks and the work you’re doing. 

The original 2001 study, described at the beginning of this post, shared a wonderful example of cognitive crafting; the hospital cleaners who understood their work greatly impacted the patients and their families and found their jobs more engaging and meaningful. 

Not everyone who works at a hospital is a doctor. However, by playing an essential role in sanitising the hospital and anticipating patients’ needs, a cleaner still plays the role of a healer. 

Under task-crafting, we saw that you might be able to swap tasks you dislike with colleagues or do them together. If this isn’t possible, look deeper into the specific task. Firstly, be curious and try to understand why you don’t enjoy specific tasks. Secondly, consider why that task is important. What meaning does it have for the company?  

5.Well-being. 

Finally, well-being crafting involves finding ways to make your job healthier for you and those around you from a physical and mental health perspective. 

·         Rob struggled to fit in exercise before work, so he allowed himself to run during the day - thus breaking the unwritten rule of not leaving your desk between 9 and 5! We’ve all been conditioned to feel like we’re not working if we’re not in front of a computer - even though exercise can make us more productive. And, as many runners can attest, we can reflect on important decisions during a run.  

·         If any tasks really fill you with anxiety and damage your mental health, this is important to reflect on. Is there anything you can do to minimise the anxiety this causes you, whether that means swapping tasks, asking for assistance, or changing how you carry out that task? 

·         If your job involves a lot of manual labour, you can concentrate on how much stronger and fitter you are. Learn the healthiest ways to move heavy items, learn restorative stretches, and remember not to push yourself.  

·         Set a time limit on when you stop looking at work emails, especially if you end up ruminating on your job late at night, which can negatively impact your sleep.  

You might have noticed that the five ways to job craft are interconnected. 

When we find meaning in our work, we’re more likely to have the motivation and energy to craft our daily tasks. When our tasks utilise our skills, we’re more enthusiastic about chatting with colleagues about our roles and sharing expertise, thus forming better relationships.  

And when we have positive work relationships - whether with colleagues, clients, or patients - we’re more likely to feel passionate about our job and find meaning in our role.

In Dutton and Wrzesniewski’s latest research, they came across Jake, a compound mixer for a company that created sustainable products. His job required limited autonomy or personal interaction. 

But Jake was a people person. He began initiating conversations with equipment engineers, including attending their meetings, to learn about the technicians and their role in designing the specialist equipment needed for his role. Soon, Jake could use this knowledge to create more effective procedures. Now, he is entirely in charge of onboarding new team members. Better yet, Jake was deeply interested in sustainability, which led him to get involved with the team who made the plant more environmentally friendly. He began crafting his job relationally by talking to the engineers, which led him to task-crafting. But how he viewed his career and his passion for sustainability gave him meaning behind making this happen.  

How can managers and leaders encourage employees to job craft? 

If you’re a manager, you may wonder how to encourage people to personalise their work. 

The critical thing to remember is that job crafting has to be led by the individual. It’s driven by intrinsic motivation rather than a top-down perspective. 

You can begin by asking the right questions: 

·         What are the things you’d like to do more of? 

·         Which skills would you like to learn or build on? 

·         Which of your strengths aren’t utilised at work? 

·         What would improve your daily work schedule? 

·         What can I do to support you? 

The answers have to come from the individual and can’t be forced. Many people need time to reflect before being aware of what changes they want to make. 

It can also be helpful to encourage team members to discuss their skills and interests as a group. This way, they can intuitively ask each other for help and share tasks that align with different passions and expertise. 

When job-crafting is difficult - advice for employees 

Some roles and industries have more autonomy than others, and not everyone will feel supported in this process. 

It’s also important not to overstep your boundaries. How receptive will your manager be to even small changes you make to your daily routine? If you anticipate they might not be keen on the idea, perhaps try and see it from their perspective. Which of your under-utilised skills would be good for their business?  

Rob acknowledges the potential risk or anxiety caused by job crafting. If you’ve ever worked a menial job for a demanding manager, you know how hard it can be to make changes. 

Unfortunately, personalising your role is far more challenging if your organisation does not support you. You don’t want to feel like you’re being penalised because you’re sending mixed messages to the company or trying to do your job differently.  

In this case, see if there are any minor changes or boundaries you can set to improve your day. 

Is there a colleague who gives you energy who can go for lunch with? Can you set a boundary not to answer emails after a specific time? Is there anyone you help with throughout the day so you can know you have a positive impact? 

Final recommendations 

Remember that job crafting isn’t something that happens overnight. Most of us will find the greatest success by ‘micro-crafting’. 

By micro-crafting, we make tiny, intentional changes that have an enormous impact over time. 

If we try to change everything we don’t like about our job at once, it might seem impossible and make us feel resistant to making any changes at all. Instead, try to find one small thing you can change and implement it. Then, you can move on to another. 

You can listen to the interview Could job crafting help bring more enjoyment to your work?

Or find out more about wellbeing and job crafting please make contact in the , you can also visit Rob Baker’s website at Tailored Thinking. 

I hope you have enjoyed this blog, its my mission is to help people be the best version of themselves by focusing on the small things that matter and showcasing the experts making positive impacts. Let me know if you want to know more about wellbeing habit change or strategy work for your business.