What is Job Crafting? Definition, Types and Advantages

Job crafting is defined as a process where the employees tend to make effective changes in their job designs so that it can result in positive outcomes. The employees are motivated to customize their job demands and resources so that it can ultimately fit their individual needs, passions, strengths, and motives.

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Understanding job crafting

Times are changing, and so is the nature of the work. Globalization has brought about an abundance of opportunities and talent in the market and transformed the way employees in the workplace perform. Jobs are no longer a means to an end, but a career that is both personally and professionally fulfilling.

Rather than thinking of switching jobs now, the preference of an employee is in job crafting or shaping some aspects of the role so that it proves fruitful and fulfilling.

Job crafting is considered as an art as it helps to enhance the resilience power of the employee along with an increase in job satisfaction and engagement in the workplace. It also involves task revision, where an employee can drop or add any responsibility to change the nature of his role. The concept of job crafting is about boosting the well-being of an employee so that he can remain motivated and satisfied in his job.

It is essential to implement the concept of job crafting expertly because, without a proper strategy, all the tasks will not be completed. There is also a risk that some employees might start taking advantage of this policy, and this is why organizations are taking special care to align employee and organizational goals.

It is a fact that to make a job crafting a success; it needs to be approved, supported, and embraced by everyone, especially senior employees in the organization.

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Job crafting is an inexpensive way to increase employee engagement within the workplace. It empowers the employees and makes their professional lives enjoyable and meaningful. The supportive work environment helps to cultivate an engaged, satisfied, and happy workforce.

There are bound to be drawbacks in the job crafting process, and the best way to mitigate it is by exercising organizational control over the whole process and resolving related drawbacks.

There should be a proper team in place whose job is to approve and disapprove of what the company considers acceptable. Otherwise, the employees might go on making changes as per their convenience and a time will come when personal preferences will rule over organizational needs.

Types of job crafting

Job crafting theory is a means of utilizing an opportunity by changing tasks and interactions at work. The individuals who are engaged in such actions are known as job crafters. There are three forms of job crafting, and these are as follows-

1. Task Crafting

The first type of job crafting is known as Task Crafting. In this method, the job crafters alter the boundaries of their job by taking on a few or more tasks, by changing the ways of doing their task and by either expanding or limiting the scope of their tasks.

This type of job crafting is quite common as individuals keep on adding or eliminating resources through extra tasks or fewer tasks, respectively. A student is working on her thesis, and she wants to include a side topic to it to make it more meaningful for her although the extra work is not required in her syllabus. Tourists are traveling on a bus to a scenic place, and in the route, the bus driver suddenly decides to share helpful sightseeing advice although it was not part of his job description.

Task crafting involves changing the nature of some responsibilities in such a manner that it does not have any impact on his actual job profile.

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2. Relationship Crafting

The second type of job crafting is known as Relationship Crafting. In this method, the job crafters alter the extent or nature of their interactions with other people to change their relationships at work.

For instance, the manager at a restaurant might have a one-on-one talk with a waiter so that he can deal with the customers in a better manner and earn more tips.

3. Cognitive Crafting

The third type of job crafting is known as Cognitive Crafting. In this method, the job crafters can change their jobs by altering their perceptions related to the tasks or treating the given tasks as a collective whole instead of separate tasks.

Here the employees change their cognitive thinking or mindset about the tasks. For instance, a cook’s job might be less about only cooking the food regularly for a paycheck and more about offering a nourishing meal to his customers and satisfying their hunger through beautifully cooked meals.

The need for job crafting in organizations

Organizations are encouraging job crafting for the following reasons-

It shows that the organization is committed to its employee’s welfare and want them to find job satisfaction
It demonstrates their commitment to harnessing diverse talent
Organizations want to create personalized work experience, and this is why promote job crafting
The firm wants its employees to have personalized work experience, and this is the reason they encourage job crafting amongst the workforce
Organizations encourage job crafting as it is a proactive approach
The organization realizes that job crafting will be beneficial for the company as well as its workforce and this is why they encourage this concept

Advantages

The advantages of job crafting are described as below-

Job crafting helps to enhance organizational as well as employee performance
It increases competitive advantage in a global and dynamic business environment
It is considered creative and innovative, and at an organizational level it leads to adaptability and flexibility
It brings more positivity and meaning to the role and responsibility of an employee
It is fundamentally a motivational tool for the employee
It is conducive to the well-being of the employees as it satisfies his subjective and psychological needs
It gives a sense of control to the employees in the tasks they perform
Job crafting helps an employee to shape the nature of his job so that he can be more engaged.
It helps the employees in accomplishing goals and achieving personal growth
It provides more development opportunities to the employees
It helps in aligning the tasks as per the strength and motive of an employee. It helps to create better job-person fit in the company
Job crafting results in higher self-efficacy
Job crafting increases the feeling of fulfillment and happiness in an employee. He believes that making some changes in his role will help him in gaining the trust and respect of his manager or superior in the firm
It helps to make a more reliable connection in a firm. Employees often collaborate with different departments after tweaking their roles. It creates opportunities for teamwork and greater social connection
It leads to a healthy, optimistic, and happy work environment
It increases the emotional commitment between the employee and his company
It helps to retain existing talent. The employees will prefer to stay in their company and make some changes in their job profile rather than leave the firm and join another one, where they might not have the liberty to do so
Job crafting provides a structured and transparent approach to review the behavior in the firm

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Disadvantages

The disadvantages of job crafting are described as below

Job crafting can create a negative impact on an organization when the employee and organization goals are not in alignment. Sometimes the employee might become more interested in fulfilling his personal goals rather than paying attention to organizational goals which might be different from each other. This will lead to conflict and have a direct impact on the relationship of the employee with his firm
In some cases, an employee changes the nature of his job via job crafting in a way that it becomes beyond recognition. This will not prove productive for the firm he is working and can have negative repercussions
The employee becomes so engrossed in finding new ways to complete his task in the minimum time that he stops focusing on completing the job in the first place
Job crafting can lead to inefficiency due to a lack of a coordinated approach between the employees
Job crafting leaves employees open to exploitation as some of them might be tempted to go beyond their call of duty especially in the initial days of their employment without being reimbursed fairly by their company
It means changing one’s role to suit the perspective of an employee. In an organization, all the jobs are linked with each other, and changing or altering one can have consequences somewhere else, and this is not good for the company
Sometimes employees go on adding tasks to their job profile while crafting their roles. It can prove demanding later on and have a direct or indirect impact on their physical health
Job crafting often leads to additional duties and overwork that will result in unhappiness, stress, exhaustion, burnout, and ultimately depression

Conclusion

Job crafting ensures taking proactive steps to redesign what we do at work and how we do it so that it increases satisfaction in the workplace and make it substantial.

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It is often referred to as an employee-initiated approach because it is a way where an employee can stay in the same job but make it meaningful by changing the way of doing it.