Most people have felt it at some point: the quiet sense that their contributions go unnoticed, that their voice doesn't quite register, that they could disappear from their workplace without anyone really noticing.
A new study by 91亚色 researchers puts a name to that feeling and examines what it means for employee well-being and job satisfaction.
Tsorng-Yeh Lee, associate professor in the School of Nursing, and Gordon Flett, professor emeritus in the Department of Psychology, are co-authors of "," published in the Canadian Journal of Nursing Research. The study examines how employees' sense of mattering, or its absence, relates to psychological well-being and satisfaction at work.
"Mattering is that feeling of being significant to others, that others see you as important," says Flett. "When somebody says they feel seen, heard and appreciated, that reflects their sense that they matter."
The flip side is anti-mattering: feeling invisible, unimportant or irrelevant. The study indicates that anti-mattering is negatively associated with well-being, mattering at work and job satisfaction 鈥 making it one of the study's most robust findings. Feeling unseen at work, the results suggest, has distinct effects, separate from feeling undervalued.
"If participants feel they don't matter, they are less likely to find their work meaningful," says Lee. "If they feel their voice is heard by their boss, they will work harder and do better."
The study also reveals a link between the fear of not mattering and problematic social media use, and an association between the latter and depression.
"When you are engaged with social media at a problematic level, you are exposing yourself to crafted, perfectionistic images of lives [that appear to be] better than yours," says Flett. "People see perfect vacations or perfect children and realize their life isn't like that, making them feel more isolated."
The research was conducted with 60 adults working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants who reported having COVID-19 indicated lower mattering and higher anti-mattering 鈥 suggesting that becoming ill somehow limits employees' feelings of significance.
Flett notes the research is a small-scale pilot study with limited scope. While the findings require further investigation, he notes the results point to meaningful patterns that merit closer examination.
For employers, the study's practical implications are clear. Lee points to the value of recognizing contributions regularly and giving meaningful feedback. As Lee explains, this helps foster a feeling for employees that 鈥淚鈥檓 not just here 鈥 I make a difference.鈥
When employees feel they matter, they are more likely to be engaged, satisfied and emotionally positive about their work. Flett adds that organizations need to move beyond passive wellness messaging and actively demonstrate that employees matter.
"We shouldn't assume people know they are important," he says. "We need to show them."
That can take many forms, he says, such as involving employees in decision-making, checking in on them as people rather than just as workers, and cultivating what Flett calls the 鈥渓ost art of sending a personal note.鈥
The U.S. Surgeon General's framework for workplace mental health identifies mattering at work as one of its five core pillars, and Flett suggests organizations should build wellness approaches that include mattering and frame their messages around that construct.
鈥淢attering is about feeling important, being noticed and feeling depended on,鈥 he says. 鈥淲hen workers are sent messages such as 'You matter to us' and 'Everybody counts,' they know they are seen, heard and cared about at the organizational level. They won't feel like a number."
Lee鈥檚 research on the topic will continue through a follow-up grant focused on mattering among Asian communities, with the aim of expanding the research to more diverse and conclusive samples.
The pilot study was supported by a seed grant from the Faculty of Health.
With files from Mzwandile Poncana