What is Job Crafting?
Job crafting is a strategy that allows you to redesign your work experience from within, without waiting for external changes. It involves adjusting tasks, relationships, and perceptions to align your job with your personal values and motivations.
This concept was developed by organizational psychologists Amy Wrzesniewski from Yale University and Jane Dutton from the University of Michigan in the early 2000s. They were researching how people find purpose in their work and discovered that some employees, even in routine or low-value roles, transformed their job experience through small daily actions:
- Taking on voluntary tasks that energized them
- Building relationships with inspiring colleagues
- Changing how they viewed their contribution
Wrzesniewski and Dutton documented this as an emerging phenomenon: people “crafting” their jobs to align with their values, strengths, and motivations without expecting someone else to do it for them.
The Three Dimensions of Job Crafting
Implementing this strategy involves modifying your work in three key dimensions:
1. Tasks
Redesign what you do daily. For example:
- Incorporate tasks that motivate you more
- Automate or delegate tasks that drain you
- Seek voluntary challenges that activate your creativity
2. Relationships
Change who you interact with. For example:
- Seek new connections with inspiring people
- Collaborate with other departments on cross-functional projects
- Mentor or be mentored by others
3. Perception or Meaning
Transform how you interpret your work. For example:
- Remember who you help with your work
- See yourself as an impact agent, not just an executor
- Connect your job to your personal values
These dimensions are applied through three main axes:
1. Task Crafting
Change what or how you do things. Add tasks you enjoy, reorganize activities, automate the repetitive, or innovate in delivering results. Example: A chef who starts creating new menus or dish proposals beyond the established routine.
2. Relationship Crafting
Modify who you work with or interact with. Seek more meaningful collaborations, avoid toxic interactions, or create new support networks. Example: A teacher who starts collaborating with colleagues from other subjects to develop interdisciplinary projects connecting them to their original purpose.
3. Cognitive (Perception) Crafting
Change the purpose behind what you do. Redefine your job’s meaning, reconnect with your impact, and reframe your role. Example: A hospital porter who, instead of seeing themselves as a “patient transporter,” considers themselves an essential part of the care chain.
Companies Applying Job Crafting
Though the concept originated in academia (Yale University, University of Michigan), it’s now part of corporate culture transformation programs for companies like:
- Google: Promotes job crafting as part of its autonomy philosophy, encouraging employees to redesign 20% of their time on passion projects (where Gmail and Google Maps originated).
- LEGO Group: Through its “My Playground” initiative, employees define how their roles can better align with their strengths and creativity.
- SAP: Integrated job crafting sessions as part of its well-being and mental health strategy, focusing on employees showing signs of disengagement.
- Hospitals in the UK: Nursing and cleaning staff have used this technique to reconnect with their job’s purpose, improving emotional well-being without needing rotations or promotions.
In Mexico, the idea still prevails that well-being “comes from above.” However, job crafting proposes the opposite: employees should take charge of redesigning their work experience as an act of personal leadership.
Your job doesn’t need to change its name for you to start changing.
Key Questions and Answers
- What is job crafting? Job crafting is a strategy that allows you to redesign your work experience from within, aligning it with your personal values and motivations.
- What are the three dimensions of job crafting? The three dimensions are tasks, relationships, and perception or meaning. Task crafting involves changing what or how you do things; relationship crafting modifies who you interact with, and cognitive (perception) crafting changes the purpose behind what you do.
- Which companies have applied job crafting? Companies like Google, LEGO Group, SAP, and hospitals in the UK have integrated job crafting into their programs for employee well-being and engagement.
- How can I start job crafting? Begin by mapping your current tasks, identifying your strengths and motivations, thinking about your work relationships, and redefining your purpose.
