Most actuaries excel at their roles (pun intended). We pass exams on schedule, deliver precise models that keep insurance companies stable and offer guidance that we hope influences proposed regulation. Yet inside, some of us feel a quiet frustration as the daily grind of regulatory filings, data validation and repetitive modeling becomes stagnant, especially after years of exam pressure and amid rapid changes in data science, climate risk and artificial intelligence (AI).
Job crafting offers a solution. Job crafting—a term coined by organizational psychologists Amy Wrzesniewski, Jane Dutton and their colleagues—is the proactive process of redefining your current role to better align with your motives, strengths and passions. Better yet, job crafting doesn’t require looking for a new role or waiting for a promotion. It involves small, intentional changes to tasks, relationships and perceptions. These adjustments can transform even highly structured jobs into sources of deeper meaning.
For actuaries, job crafting is particularly powerful. Our profession ranks among the best jobs in America,[1] with strong growth projected at 22% through 2034.[2] Yet surveys and forums reveal pockets of burnout, exam fatigue and a desire for more strategic impact or work-life balance. Job crafting provides the opportunity to inject creativity and purpose into your existing position, whether you’re a property and casualty pricing actuary, life valuation specialist or health consultant, while staying aligned with the Society of Actuaries’ (SOA’s) emphasis on professional development and ethical practice.
Why does this matter now? Economic pressures, remote work and technological disruption have made traditional career ladders less reliable. Job crafting puts control back in your hands. Research shows crafters report higher job satisfaction, less burnout and better results for their organizations.[3] In actuarial terms, it can mean shifting from pure compliance work to innovative risk modeling that influences C-suite decisions or mentoring the next generation of SOA candidates.
Actuarial roles are often designed with precision in mind: standardized models, strict deadlines and heavy regulatory oversight. This structure delivers reliability but can limit autonomy. A 2007 SOA member survey found average job satisfaction at 7.2/10, a solid result but not exceptional.[4] Reddit threads and industry discussions frequently mention burnout from repetitive reserving cycles or the “exam treadmill.” Even in high-ranked careers, stagnation creeps in when daily tasks feel disconnected from broader impact.
As some actuaries have noted, small job-crafting steps create momentum in analytical careers. Neurodiverse actuaries have even used crafting (with coaching) to thrive.[5] In short, when promotions or role changes feel unrealistic, crafting keeps you energized and advancing your actuarial journey.
For SOA members focused on career development, crafting aligns perfectly with lifelong learning. Instead of viewing continuing education credits as a checkbox, you might craft them into leadership projects.
Task Crafting
Job crafting treats your job as malleable building blocks rather than a fixed script. Each block represents a task; for visual thinkers, the size of the block can represent how much time is spent on each task.
To succeed at job crafting, introspection is required. What motivates you? What are your values? What are you already good at, and what do you want to learn? Reviewing your answers to these questions alongside the task blocks can help you assess where you may want to spend more or less time, as long as you continue to meet the core needs of your job.
Relational Crafting
One framework to prevent burnout recognizes the need for relationships to provide social support, a sense of task significance and connection to those who benefit from our work. Relational crafting involves intentionally seeking out relationships that provide more or deeper connections within the context of your role. This could be mentoring a junior team member, building cross-functional relationships with other departments or volunteering for a professional organization.
Cognitive Crafting
Also known as reframing, cognitive crafting involves thinking about your tasks and job differently. One popular example is a story from 1962: While visiting NASA, President John F. Kennedy saw a janitor carrying a broom. The president asked him what his job was at NASA. He answered, “Putting a man on the moon.” Similar stories abound of janitors taking pride in their work keeping hospital surgical suites clean; we wouldn’t have health care without them!
Examples of Job Crafting
These are just a few examples of job crafting that may inspire you as you begin to create your own diagram (see the step-by-step guide in the next section).
- Increased meaning and motivation: Reframe routine reserving as protecting policyholders’ futures.
- Better performance: Add data-science tasks to leverage your analytical strengths for innovation.
- Stronger networks: Build relationships across departments to open doors to data governance, enterprise risk management or cultural initiatives.
- Organizational value: Retain top actuaries amid talent shortages; companies gain motivated talent without new hires.
A Step-by-Step Guide to Job Crafting for Actuaries
The core method comes from Wrzesniewski, Berg and Dutton[6] and is expanded in later resources like the Center for Positive Organizations’ Job Crafting Exercise and Greater Good in Action. It uses a simple visual diagram plus reflection on the three crafting types: task, relational and cognitive. To ensure you have enough time, plan to spend one to two hours creating your initial diagram, then revisit it quarterly.
Step 1: Diagram Your Current Job (The “Before” Sketch)
List every major task or responsibility. Draw rectangles sized by time/energy invested (large = most time, small = least), and group similar items. For example, a typical pricing actuary might draw the following:
- Large blocks: Data validation, model runs, quarterly reports, compliance reviews
- Medium blocks: Client (internal or external) meetings, peer reviews
- Small blocks: Innovation pilots, mentoring, professional development (SOA webinars)
Be honest. This snapshot often reveals an overinvestment in draining tasks and an underuse of passions like predictive analytics or teaching.
Step 2: Identify Your Motives, Strengths and Passions
Reflect on what energizes you. Ask yourself, What tasks make time fly? Use the three categories shown here (with examples):
- Motives (why you work): Personal growth, meaningful relationships, societal impact (e.g., protecting vulnerable populations via insurance)
- Strengths (what you excel at): Technical modeling, communication, strategic thinking, data visualization
- Passions (what you love): Analyzing trends in Excel, mentoring exam candidates, exploring climate models
Overlay these as ovals on your diagram, using a different shade for each category.
Step 3: Create Your “After” Diagram
Reconfigure the blocks to allocate more time and energy to high-fit areas. Expand fulfilling tasks, shrink or adapt others, and add new ones within realistic bounds. Group blocks into “roles” that serve a purpose you value (e.g., “innovating risk solutions” or “developing future actuaries”).
Step 4: Choose Your Crafting Type(s)
For each of the following crafting categories, identify any changes you’d like to make to improve your work satisfaction.
Task Crafting: Alter the scope, sequence or number of tasks. An actuary might volunteer to pilot generative AI for scenario testing (expanding a small block) or trade routine data pulls for strategic forecasting (be sure someone else is interested in taking over the data pull!).
Relational Crafting: Change interactions. Approach a tech-savvy colleague to co-develop dashboards, or arrive early to meetings to build personal ties that spark cross-functional projects.
Cognitive Crafting: Reframe meaning. View exam prep support as “building the profession’s future” rather than extra work, or see regulatory filings as “ethical guardianship” rather than bureaucracy.
Combine these categories for maximum effect. For example, if you want to develop your public speaking skills, joining a Toastmasters club will achieve that task while also developing new relationships.
Step 5: Build an Action Plan and Address Challenges
Translate the diagram into specifics:
- Short-term (next month): Incorporate one new task from the identified list.
- Long-term: Seek manager approval for a pilot project, such as improving that model that’s been bothering you for years.
Anticipate obstacles (time, politics, manager buy-in) and plan around these three areas:
- Tasks: Pick projects that add value (e.g., AI pricing pilot saves costs).
- Relationships: Approach supportive people first; build trust by ensuring core deliverables won’t slip.
- Perceptions: Remind yourself how changes serve organizational goals and your SOA development.
To gain support, deploy your strengths in a way that creates value for others, build trust with your supervisor and target receptive colleagues. One person’s dreaded reserving review might be another’s favorite; offer to trade tasks. Involve your manager early; many welcome employee-driven improvements when they align with business needs.
Step 6: Track, Reflect and Iterate
After four to six weeks, revisit your diagram. Measure your current engagement (e.g., “Do I look forward to Mondays?”) and adjust as needed. Research online tools and templates that provide job-crafting tools and ideas. If you need motivation, tie your progress to Continuing Professional Development credits or volunteer roles.
Potential Limits and Best Practices
Job crafting isn’t a free pass to ignore duties or overload yourself. Stay within organizational boundaries, communicate openly and avoid politics by focusing on shared wins. In regulated fields like actuarial science, you need to ensure that changes comply with standards (such as Actuarial Standards of Practice).
If it’s overdone, job crafting can increase stress and burnout, so start small. Don’t overwhelm yourself.
Conclusion
Job crafting is empowering because it’s driven by you, not Human Relations or your boss. For you as an actuary, this means evolving from a technician to a strategic innovator, a mentor or a thought leader while staying in your current role.
Start today. Grab paper and pencil (or a digital tool), sketch your before diagram, and dream up your after diagram. Whether you add AI experimentation, deepen cross-team relationships or cognitively reframe your impact on society, small changes compound. The result? A career that not only pays the bills but reignites the passion that brought you to actuarial science in the first place.
Your job is what you make it. Craft wisely.
This article is provided for informational and educational purposes only. Neither the Society of Actuaries nor the respective authors’ employers make any endorsement, representation or guarantee with regard to any content, and disclaim any liability in connection with the use or misuse of any information provided herein. This article should not be construed as professional or financial advice. Statements of fact and opinions expressed herein are those of the individual authors and are not necessarily those of the Society of Actuaries or the respective authors’ employers.
K. Beth Baker, FSA, MAAA, FCA, is the founder and CEO of Naxara. K. Beth can be reached at beth@naxara.ai.
[1] Emily H. Bratcher, “Best Jobs: Actuary,” U.S. News & World Report, n.d., https://careers.usnews.com/best-jobs/actuary.
[2] Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Occupational Outlook Handbook: Actuaries,” US Department of Labor, last modified August 28, 2025, https://www.bls.gov/ooh/math/actuaries.htm.
[3] Cort W. Rudolph, et al, “Job-crafting: A Meta-analysis of Relationships With Individual Differences, Job Characteristics, and Work Outcomes,” Journal of Vocational Behavior 102 (October 2017): 112–38, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0001879117300477?via%3Dihub.
[4] Society of Actuaries, “The SOA at Work: FutureRisk.org Career Survey: Salary and Job Title Key Impacts to Satisfaction,” SOA, August 2007, https://www.soa.org/library/newsletters/the-actuary-magazine/2007/august/soa2007aug/.
[5] Chika Aghadiuno, “A Different Perspective of Diversity,” The Actuary, July 2021: 32–34, https://www.theactuary.com/issues/2021/07/july-2021.
[6] Justin M. Berg, Amy Wrzesniewski and Jane E. Dutton, “Perceiving and Responding to Challenges in Job Crafting at Different Ranks: When Proactivity Requires Adaptivity,” Journal of Organizational Behavior 31, no. 2 (2010): 158–86, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/211382406_Perceiving_and_responding_to_challenges_in_job_crafting_at_different_ranks_When_proactivity_requires_adapti32–vity.