为什么我们依然需要工作？

More and more people seem to be out of work today. Some leave the workplace after achieving financial independence; others are forced out by unemployment; still others withdraw because they are burned out. A growing number of young people postpone employment by pursuing graduate study or taking civil-service examinations.

Work seems to carry a complicated burden of emotion and pressure, and very few people appear to genuinely love it. At the mention of work, many cannot help complaining or feeling weary. They see it as a burden of stress, monotony, lost freedom, complicated relationships, and empty formalities.

Yet work occupies most of our waking lives and, to a large extent, determines whether our lives are happy.

What is the essential meaning of work? Why do people work?

Work first meets our most basic need for survival. By creating value for other people and society through our labor, we receive material compensation that sustains our lives. Providing financial security is the most fundamental value of work. Many people who dislike their jobs see work only as a necessity for survival and believe that earning money is enough.

Yet the role of work in life extends beyond material reward. Human energy needs a purposeful outlet, and work provides an effective way to direct that energy. When someone has nothing to focus on for a long time, they can easily become trapped in unproductive inner conflict.

Work, we might say, gives life a sense of order and keeps us from losing ourselves in the passivity of having nothing to do.

Beyond material needs, work also provides an important setting for social interaction. It gives people a social identity, while collaboration with colleagues builds social connections, strengthens a sense of belonging, and prevents us from becoming isolated “islands” within society.

More importantly, human needs do not end with survival and belonging. Unlike other animals, human beings long to pursue value beyond themselves within their finite lives—that is, self-actualization . Work is not only a way to make a living, but also a path toward realizing personal value.

Through effort and creation, people can leave their imprint of value on the world, and the process makes life fuller and more meaningful.

As Yang Jiang put it, “The greatest meaning of going to work is not the salary. Work gives you a regular life, opportunities to meet people, a stable social circle, and a certain amount of pressure from clients and colleagues. It exercises the mind and keeps you moving forward so that your life does not gradually deteriorate.”

Lu Yao also wrote in *Ordinary World*: “Only labor can make people strong in life. Whoever we may be, we must ultimately honor those who create a life with their own hands.”

Society now attaches many negative labels to work. Many people have lost interest in it and feel that they are merely “working machines.” There are real reasons behind this, including repetitive and mechanical tasks, intense performance pressure, and even the culture of working from nine in the morning to nine at night, six days a week.

How can we make work better?

On the one hand, I believe companies need to make their management and culture more humane. They should understand and respect employees' genuine needs, reduce unreasonable pressure as much as possible, and give people a stronger sense of achievement and recognition so that they have a better experience at work.

On the other hand, each of us also needs to rethink and redefine what work means. By bringing together our interests, values, and abilities, we can find a way of working that suits us and make work more than just work—a part of personal growth and self-actualization .

People do not live for work; through work, we make life more meaningful.

Perhaps what people need is not work itself, but the possibilities it creates: a stable order in life, genuine human relationships, and the realization of self-worth. Through work, the meaning of life expands and life itself becomes richer.