Office blues? Four ways to fulfillment.

Humor, of course, can be a simple way to bring joy back to the workplace. Jordan-Evans tells of a group of professionals who were griping about the dismal condition of the office restrooms - until they decided that the women should decorate the men's room and vice versa. Among the artistic flourishes: Covers of company reports are now posted on the women's room walls, framed by toilet seats. After the unveiling on a Saturday, the group went out for a laugh-filled dinner.

Managers often try to generate more engagement by setting up a program such as an employee-of-the-month award. But recognition is not the key to fulfillment for everyone, or even most employees, Mr. Terez says. He spent two years interviewing people about what makes work meaningful. He discovered 22 key themes - such as relationship-building, service, equality, personal development, and validation. Each person is motivated by a unique set of these keys. (For more information, see www.betterworkplacenow.com)

Terez encourages people to talk with co-workers about their peak moments in the past six months - times when they were inspired or felt a sense of accomplishment. Rather than asking people to envision the perfect workplace, "you're rooting it in reality, and the challenge then is to figure out ways to have more of that," he says.

Training manager Fran Charles organized a series of these conversations at MedCost, a medical-claims processing company in Winston-Salem, N.C. It surfaced that the nonmanagerial staff had no chance to give input when it came time for yearly performance appraisals. "There was nothing in [the process] to help make their job more challenging if they wanted it," she says. Now it is more of a back-and-forth, and employees are more aware of opportunities for personal development.

Some people find their work fulfilling because they can see its positive effects. Jerry Palmer, a professor of industrial and organizational psychology, chose to be the coordinator of a master's degree program at Eastern Kentucky University. He wanted closer ties to the students, instead of just teaching them for a semester or two and never hearing from them again.

"You see them as they come in, and some of them might be scared.... It's great to see when their confidence grows," he says. Many are the first in their families to earn college or advanced degrees. "You see all the excitement and disappointment and joy as they try to get a job. After working with them for so long, you kind of feel personally responsible."

For Lisa Yaffe, public service has been a satisfying career for more than 25 years. "It sounds so corny, but [I want] to make the world a better place, for a couple of people anyway," she says.

When it became clear that Ms. Yaffe could be making more in the private sector, she wasn't really tempted, she says. "That may be because I've just been so rewarded in the friendships and in the accomplishments that I've had." Last year she was appointed deputy executive director of the Governor's Office of Housing and Community Revitalization in Pennsylvania.

Yes, she says, "the tide of bureaucracy will pull you under" if you don't find ways to cope with the frustration. But she copes staying in touch with mentors - and by not relying on work as her only source of fulfillment. There's her hobby, for one. "I have horses, and it's really helpful for me to go communicate with a nice animal," she says with a laugh.

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