Barry Schwartz, professor of psychology at Swarthmore College and author of “Why We Work” is attempting to change how people view their jobs, writes Kate MacArthur for Orlando Sentinel.

In an interview with the Orlando Sentinel, Schwartz talks about a lack of satisfaction and happiness at work, what he would do to change the situation, and why he thinks that performance bonuses are not the solution.

According to his research, 70 percent of Americans do not love their job, nor do they feel that their efforts contribute anything more than just earning a paycheck. In his book he points out that the main reason is that most people have mechanical and repetitive jobs.

“They are much too closely monitored,” he emphasized. “There’s very little evidence that they are trusted and respected by their managers, and there’s very little attention paid to emphasizing the meaning, the point, of what they do and how it makes somebody’s life better.”

While Schwartz does not offer a clear blueprint on how to change that, he does offer several first steps.

“I think you start out with an understanding of what kind of work you want to be offering people,” he noted, adding that employers need to try to pay people better for the job they are doing rather than trying to reward them with bonuses for doing their jobs really well.

“You want to identify the purpose of your organization and communicate to your workforce that this is a purpose worth aspiring to achieve,” he pointed out.

Read the entire interview at Orlando Sentinel by clicking here.