Please don’t conflate workplace engagement for workplace wellbeing. I can jump through hoops and get rewarded for a job done to organizational specification and still go to bed that night wondering what I’m doing with my life.
The rat in a maze will tap the lever to get a short-term win without ever finding its way to true nourishment. Even though the healthcare system is a maze, we’re not rats. A strategic tapping of the lever doesn’t prevent us from noticing the difference between reward and purpose.
And the system may be dysfunctional, but it’s not a conspiracy. It’s up to us to take the work that exists and create a purpose from it.