Many people today believe that passion has a role to play in workplace productivity and career success. While for some, work rhymes with passion, for others it's simply a coordinated activity to produce what's useful. 

Is being passionate about your work a generational phenomenon?

For several years now, working conditions have been getting worse and worse. With the proliferation of highly responsible positions, working days are becoming longer and more demanding. Many workers feel they work in a job where they are supervised, manipulated and paid less and less. These jobs are often accompanied by a loss of meaning in life. As a result, burnout and resignation rates are on the rise in companies and factories. More and more employees are opting for professional retraining.

For some experts, the quest for a job or profession that rhymes with passion is a real generational problem. Young workers now aspire to a meaningful life. They want to put themselves at the service of companies they believe in, and they only want to follow training courses that relate to their inner passion. The search for a job that matches their passion has driven some to become influencers to showcase their gift and talent.

Company directors who have recruited over the past 5 years all agree that young people under the age of 30 are increasingly turning down jobs that older people would have accepted without batting an eyelid. For them, resigning themselves to a "rotten" job just because "that's the way it is" is out of the question. The Covid-19 health crisis played a major role in this new awareness. What was seen as a typically "young" attitude spread to other employees during the pandemic. Although this trend did not originate with the crisis, it has played a major role in accelerating the movement in the world of work.

A passionate profession: the fruit of economic and social change

The quest for a profession that combines work and passion also seems to be the result of social and economic changes. Before the twentieth century, individuals had little choice when it came to choosing a profession to pursue during their lifetime. For the most part, they were expected to carry on the family torch and perpetuate the legacy of their ancestors. These people didn't have to worry about being passionate about their work. What mattered to them was making a living.

Professionals believe that, for several years now, the number of people able to choose their destiny (job or profession) has been growing steadily. This explains the success, in recent years, of personal development books, which invite as many people as possible to find their own path to accomplishing their life's work. In the 50s, for example, the average worker had a limited choice of career paths. They could only choose between a factory job or a desk job. Immediate pleasure was generally sacrificed on the altar of long-term security.

Today's job market has changed. If you're passionate about video games, you can decide to become a professional streamer and do a job out of passion. Workers are becoming increasingly aware of what they are losing out on by accepting a job or work without passion. For the sociologists and philosophers who have looked into the matter, encouraging passion in the workplace is a disguised way of exploiting employees a little more. In the end, it serves the company's interests. And this is even truer when you're not self-employed.

Is being passionate enough to be fulfilled in your work?

Passion alone is a long way from making a worker happy. We may well find a job that speaks to us, but doesn't pay enough to pay the rent or support the family. That's when most people opt for a higher-paying job at the expense of a job they're passionate about. Of course, being passionate plays an important role in productivity at work.

The lack of appropriate remuneration, however, can quickly undermine motivation and professional commitment. Work in this case becomes a tedious, mechanical activity performed just to survive. The passion one had for the job is gradually stifled by life's financial problems, which the salary is unable to solve. To a certain extent, having a passionate profession that offers a decent salary is a privilege reserved for the "chosen few".

You shouldn't feel guilty if you can't land your dream job. You may not be passionate about your job, but you can perform the various tasks with passion. And if you've always dreamed of becoming a nurse, don't hesitate to retrain as a nurse.

Is passion the key to success?

According to Adam Davidson, author of The Passion Economy, to succeed financially in life, it's important to take your passion into account when choosing your profession. So what happens to people who don't work out of passion, but out of obligation? And what about those whose passion is not applicable to the professional world?

When you don't have the opportunity to do the job you're passionate about, the ideal is to do what you have to do, but create your own passion. Find out what makes you different and what unique thing you have to offer in your job. Even if you can't develop a real passion for your job, you can make the most of your skills and add your own personal touch while doing your job.

In the 20th century, all you had to do to succeed in your professional life was tick certain boxes. Today, you need to determine what you can and can't do. Sometimes you won't like it, and sometimes it won't be your passion. But passion can come more easily when you do what you do best, in a unique way.