Rethinking Work: Help Employees Achieve Their Bucket List

Vanessa Forslev
Jul 3
3 min read

Do you have a bucket list? When’s the last time you actually crossed something off it?

Now, what if your employer could help make that happen?

Stick with me here.

I don’t have an official bucket list scrawled on paper, but I started crossing off long-held dreams only after I left corporate work. Art classes? Check. Learn how to grow real food? Check. Foster rescue dogs? Big check.

Each of those things lit me up. Not because someone told me to do them, but because I wanted to. They were mine. Personal, purpose-filled, and deeply motivating.

And that’s the heart of this post.

The Big Shift: Employers as Partners in Personal Purpose

Here’s the question I want to put on the table:

What if employers saw themselves as partners in helping employees live full, meaningful lives—starting with their bucket list?

Not everything on it. Not a blank check. But just enough to matter.

This is a significant mindset shift. Instead of focusing primarily on KPIs and quarterly engagement scores, this asks employers to help people live better lives. It’s more than a wellness stipend or gym membership—it’s meaning and purpose. And this is where motivation gets real.

The research backs it up:

McKinsey found that 70% of employees define their purpose largely through work—but only 15% of frontline managers and employees say they actually live that purpose at work.
Gallup continues to link purpose and engagement with higher performance, lower absenteeism, and reduced turnover.
Further, Gallup notes that disengagement cost $438 billion globally in 2024.
Harvard Business Review notes that purpose often outweighs pay and promotion when it comes to long-term engagement.

So, if purpose fuels performance, this isn’t just a feel-good idea, it’s a strategic one.

Let’s Talk About “Life Balance”

Here’s another shift worth naming: Work-life balance isn’t realistic. Or human.

The phrase sets work in opposition to life. As if the two are fighting for territory. But work is life. Or at least one part of it.

What we really need is life balance—a more honest and human way of looking at how people spend their energy. Work is one part of a larger whole. When we design our world to support that whole, we create happier humans, higher-performing organizations and more sustainable cultures.

The Spirit of a Bucket List Strategy

Want to dip your toe in? Here’s the spirit of it:

Ask people what’s on their bucket list. Seriously.
Look for ways to align those dreams with the work you already do.
Offer small support—time, encouragement, connection.
And celebrate it, even if it has nothing to do with KPIs.

This isn’t a program. It’s an intentional perspective shift. One that asks: what would change if we helped people live full lives—at work and beyond?

Why This Matters Now

It’s easy to say workplace wellbeing matters. But talk is cheap—especially in a labor market where layoffs are common and employers may feel they have the upper hand.

This is exactly why now is the time to act.

Supporting the whole person isn’t about a big spend—it’s about a small strategic investment (of time, and maybe some $) that builds trust, loyalty, and resilience. It positions your organization for long-term sustainability when the talent market tightens again. And it starts to repair the frayed relationship between employers and employees.

We’re not just talking about perks or programs. We’re talking about how people feel about where they work—and whether they see themselves thriving there in five years.

This isn’t about being idealistic. It’s about being a little bit of a #hopefulcynic: Question everything. Still choose to care.

And maybe—just maybe—help someone cross something off their bucket list along the way.