Contributive Justice: How Municipalities Benefit from Promoting Meaningful Work

People crave meaningful work. Municipal employers have a unique opportunity to satisfy that craving. By doing so, you won’t only attract top-quality, diverse talent. You might even help save democracy.

But first let’s talk about work.

People want to feel that they matter. That their contributions are valued. As Daniel Pink demonstrates in Drive, the keys to intrinsic motivation include mastery (getting better and better at something that matters) and purpose. So applying our talents to work that matters and serves a higher purpose is one of our strongest motivators.

Indeed, NYU researcher Jeremy Waldron argues, people will protest in the streets, risking lives and livelihoods, to be allowed to contribute to society. Early women’s movements fought for the right to serve on juries, and more recently LGBTQ+ people have fought to serve openly in the military. Most of us don’t want to receive a jury notice or risk our lives in battle. But those who’ve been excluded from these opportunities will fight for them, because having society value our contributions is fundamental to our human dignity.

Perhaps that’s why, in response to wealth redistribution proposals, those who could benefit often respond indignantly that they don’t want a “handout.” Yes, our societal moment calls for “distributive justice,” but also for “contributive justice” – allowing everyone, regardless of demographic or socioeconomic background, to contribute and have their contributions valued.

In short, people need meaningful work opportunities. That’s where municipal employers come in.

Let’s get pragmatic. Where people crave meaningful work, an employer who offers it will have their choice of top talent, even in tight job markets. That includes diverse talent, whose potential contributions are traditionally undervalued. Want to be an employer of choice? Offer contributive justice.

This doesn’t mean creating “busy work” to employ people. We want to drive productivity (and respect budgets) by tapping into employees’ intrinsic motivation for meaningful work. Instead, it means getting creative about finding jobs that are productive and valuable to the municipality – and to the public interest it serves – using existing or easily teachable skill sets in the community. It starts with relaxing education requirements in job postings, rethinking what skills would benefit your organization, and creating opportunities for people to apply their talents in a wide range of front-line roles.

Here are some concrete steps to consider:

Review recruitment processes to identify and remove barriers to inclusion, both on demographic and socioeconomic grounds.

Remove educational requirements from job postings that aren’t truly necessary to do the job.

Review current jobs for meaningfulness. While some work will always be repetitive, no one should be stuck with only tedious tasks.

Remind employees of the broader purpose their role serves, and highlight to job candidates how they’ll make a difference working for you. This is a key recruitment and retention advantage for municipal employers, which exist for public service!

Recognize and celebrate employees at every level when they do great work, especially work that serves the public interest.

Offer robust on-the-job training and mentorship opportunities. Help people with potential, but without credentials, get their foot in the door. You may be rewarded with great loyalty and service.

Look beyond existing job descriptions. Find opportunities for candidates with unusual talents to apply them in other parts of the organization.

Allow employee voices to be heard by including employees on task forces, committees, suggestion circles, focus groups, and so on. Employees will feel their contributions matter, and the municipality will benefit from hearing the perspectives of those working “on the ground.”

Review performance management and promotion systems to minimize opportunities for unconscious biases, so people’s real contributions are valued and aren’t unfairly discounted.

Bring people with diverse perspectives into decisionmaking. They may help identify barriers for people with diverse backgrounds, skills and talents to engage in meaningful work.

Now you might be thinking: sounds great for employers and employees, but can it really save democracy? It just might.

Harvard philosophy professor Michael Sandel argues in The Tyranny of Merit that the rise of authoritarian populism is a backlash against a false meritocracy. This meritocracy equates merit with university degrees, and blames those in low-paid, less socially-respected jobs for their own fate. So when would-be authoritarians argue that “elites” look down on “ordinary people,” they’re tapping into a real and legitimate resentment. By addressing that resentment – by offering meaningful work to everyone and respecting a wide variety of useful skills instead of only narrow credentials – we might allay that resentment and restore faith in democracy itself.