Finding meaning in work under new conditions

This article uses meaning in work as an analytical concept and examines how the meaning of work is
experienced among people in flex jobs who do not draw on prior professional experience or educational
competencies in their current positions. The article is based on six qualitative interviews with flexjob
employees who do not use their ‘formal’ qualifications or previous professional experience from prior
jobs. The interviews are centered on themes such as the importance of having a job; feeling productive
and useful; work as structuring, normalizing, and a source of obligation; self-understanding, identity, and
belonging. For the participants, the value of work derives predominantly from its indirect values than
from the concrete content of the work or its monetary return. The article nuances the understanding of
meaningful work by showing how people in an unusual position in the labour market find meaning in
work through structure, identity-formation, and social value.