Psychologist, Prof Barry Schwartz, argues that making paid work more meaningful for both blue and white collar workers begins with changing what we think about the motivations of paid labour. 

‘Our theories about human nature are much more inventions about who people are, than they are discoveries of what people are…  When it comes to working “just for pay,” there’s us and there’s them. There’s the white-collar workers, the professionals, the knowledge class, and they want engagement, meaning, the opportunity to learn and grow, and autonomy. They don’t work just for pay. And then there’s everybody else, and everybody else is just about the paycheck.

‘But there are plenty of examples of blue-collar workers who, if they had any little opportunity to get meaning and significance out of their work, they’d take that opportunity—even if they’re not paid for going the extra mile. In fact, they might be punished if a supervisor sees them, but they still do it. I think the seeds are present in people, and the trick is to create institutions that nurture these seeds instead of basically stamping them out. Mostly, we have stamped them out.’

Source: The Atlantic.