When we think about work, we usually picture office employees or factory workers clocking in and out of their jobs. But many people are no longer tethered to an organization. By one estimate, more than a fifth of the American labor force performs work that is not part of a traditional full-time job.
“The shape of work is shifting radically,” says Amy Wrzesniewski, a professor of organizational behavior at Yale SOM whose research focuses on how people experience and make meaning of their work.
In the past, most research on work identity investigated how people relate to employers. “We tended to conflate work with organizations,” Wrzesniewski says. Even when studies examined independent work, they usually focused on people who were members of occupational communities, such as freelance creative workers.
In a new study recently published in Administrative Science Quarterly, Wrzesniewski, Gianpiero Petriglieri of INSEAD, and Sue Ashford of the University of Michigan delved into the lives of independent workers. The researchers found that independent workers seemed much more sensitive to setbacks than typical employees. But the study participants also felt their work was more meaningful than an office job. “The lows are much lower; the highs are much higher,” Wrzesniewski says.
