I once worked with a guy who always replied to “how are you?” with “just another day in the salt mines”! We were both comfortably in Corporate America, so he was lying about the work but honest about the paycheck. At least it paid the bills.

If you’re in a job, is that all there is to life?

Not if you’ve heard what Bea Boccalandro has to say. In “Do Good At Work: How Simple Acts of Social Purpose Drive Success and Wellbeing”, she points out that a fortunate few have a job that completely lines up with their passion. They’re doing what they love.

But what about the rest of us? That’s where Bea says “job purposing” comes in. Job purposing is any meaningful contribution to others or to a societal cause done as part of our work experience. It may not be that dream job, but it’s a whole lot better than the salt mines and absolutely no interview needed!

In a book loaded with examples, here’s a few of my favorites:

• A senior partner at an architecture firm holds monthly lunchtime open houses for any employee seeking career advice.
• A warehouse supervisor gives free weekly English lessons for any non-native English speaking employees willing to come in a couple hours early.
• A vice-president of procurement decides to transition its supply chain to only include environmentally sustainable products.
• A tech support specialist writes blog posts for the company’s public website spotlighting a different digital social-purpose campaign each week.
• A manager consistently asks those who are quiet in meetings to share their thoughts, because research shows that quiet participants are disproportionately women and minorities.
• A meeting organizer invites participants to introduce themselves by also sharing what charity they like and why.
• A mid-level manager brings onsite trainers from the American Red Cross to train and certify interested staff in AED (automated external defibrillator) use.
• A cafeteria manage enlists his team’s support for Meatless Mondays.
• A junior team member who is a whiz at Powerpoint holds online office hours for fellow employees wanting to learn more.
• A recruiting manager at a healthcare services company organizes blood donations drives with their campus recruiting fairs.

Switch out the role, the title, and the topic, and many of these can be adapted to who you are and what you (dare I say it) are passionate about.

Can you see a way out of the salt mines?

“Have you heard?” is our way of sharing another point of view on commonly held beliefs. Through this we hope to encourage curiosity, dialogue, and tolerance of diverse ideas.