What is job crafting and what are its advantages?

A good employer realizes that the achievement of the expected performance and results of their employees depends on their motivation, commitment and taking the company’s success as their own. For such a situation to happen, the employers have to provide them with the best possible working conditions and ensure that they feel a sense of purpose in the duties they perform. Such a need is well met by a process known as job crafting, which was developed in 2001 by two psychologists, Amy Wrzesniewski (University of Yale) and Jane E. Dutton (University of Michigan). Today, we’ll define job crafting and show its benefits for both employer and employee.

Job crafting – table of contents:

1. What is job crafting?
2. Positive effects of job crafting
3. Advantages of job crafting
4. Job crafting – summary

What is job crafting?

Job crafting refers to the modeling of work – that is, the employee’s customization of work (including skills) to increase the sense of control over the job and improve job satisfaction or help achieve better results. You can implement it in various areas, among which the most important are:

• realized responsibilities (task crafting) – an employee may ask to change his or her job description to better fit his or her skills and interests (for example, an employee in the sales department who is good at writing may ask to have the creation of articles or marketing materials added to his or her job description),
• relational crafting – you can adjust the work in the team to your preferences, making it more independent or more group-based depending on the specific case,
• the way of performing duties (cognitive crafting) – means transforming the order in which tasks progress, analyzing them, measuring their effectiveness and examining their legitimacy, which is supposed to lead to a deeper understanding of what an employee’s role is in the team and the company as a whole.

Positive effects of job crafting

What should job crafting lead to? First and foremost, to a change in thinking about work. Wrzesniewski and Dutton’s research has shown that employees who treat their work as an opportunity to exercise their values and goals or to develop personally – and not just as a duty tied to the need to earn money – are more engaged and motivated, resulting in better job performance. For this reason, they have created a work modeling tool to lead to greater control over the duties performed and the use of the maximum of one’s skills.

After all, customization of tasks performed and ways of doing things is supposed to increase commitment to duties and improve job satisfaction – especially for people in independent or creative positions.

Advantages of job crafting

It is believed that the benefits of labor modeling can be seen by both employees and companies or organizations. How are the benefits shaping up for both groups?

Advantages for organizations

Job crafting is usually seen as a beneficial strategy for organizations, as it helps strengthen employee engagement and improve their job satisfaction and performance, which positively increases their value to the organization. Moreover, it can lead to greater innovation and creativity, as employees are thus given the freedom to experiment with different ways of doing their jobs. To achieve such benefits, a supportive employer can offer employees flexibility in how they do their jobs and access to tools that help them better tailor their work to their individual needs and goals.

Advantages for employees

For employees, in turn, it is noted that job crafting allows them to use their skills and talents in a way that best suits their work style and preferences, which increases satisfaction with their duties, improves well-being in the workplace or facilitates teamwork.

At the same time, employees who have more control over their work are more committed and motivated to achieve the organization’s goals – thus producing better results. Thus, this operating model can contribute to reducing employee turnover and related recruitment costs, as well as making the employee more valuable to the organization.

Job crafting – summary

It should be said that job crafting represents a way to make the most of each employee’s potential. That is why it is increasingly becoming part of the organizational culture of companies in various industries. Still, the introduction of this process requires the selection of people in the team who are characterized by a high degree of self-awareness in the area of their own needs, preferences and skills, and who will be able to properly take advantage of the opportunities provided to them.

So before you decide to introduce work modeling into your organization, make sure that these are the kind of people you have in place – not employees who are more comfortable with the traditional model of operation.

Read also: How to learn self-discipline? Advice from top leaders

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