One morning in March 2020, Randy Schiefer awoke in a hospital bed unsure how much time had passed. He recalled a quiet walk through what felt like a golden city: arched windows, glowing streets, and a light unlike anything he had seen before. A man told him he didn’t belong there, and then everything stopped. When he regained consciousness, his daughter was by his side and the machines were gone.
Although surreal, that experience could be explained. What followed was harder to account for. Friends noticed he spoke more openly, listened more patiently, and seemed unusually calm. He didn’t return to his old routines the way most people do after a serious illness. Things that had once bothered him no longer mattered. His job title remained the same, but the work felt different.
A Strange Return to the Office
Image via Unsplash/EFFYDESK
Researchers at the University of Guelph interviewed 14 adults who had near-death experiences after major medical events. Their returns to work were often messy and hesitant. Many did not recognize themselves in their former professional roles. Some chose to leave their jobs, while others altered how they worked.
One woman described feeling disconnected from the version of herself who used to sit through meetings in heels and present pitch decks. She couldn’t endure long conference calls without feeling out of place, so she left a high-paying role and launched a business rooted in something more personally meaningful. Another participant stepped down from a fast-track executive path to reduce hours and spend more time working directly with clients.
No More Chasing
Before their crises, money, recognition, and advancement had been powerful motivators. Afterward, those measures lost their sway. Participants reported no longer being driven by conventional scorecards; instead, they prioritized activities aligned with their values. It wasn’t a wholesale personality change so much as a lowering of the volume on external pressures.
In target-driven workplaces, this shift can appear as disengagement. In reality, these people continued to work hard—but for different reasons. One man described it as “a knowing” that he needed to show up with intention and purpose rather than chasing titles or numbers.
Coworkers Stop Being Names in a System
Workplace relationships also shifted. Before their near-death experiences, most participants viewed colleagues through a task-oriented lens: deliverables, timelines, and expectations. Afterwards, they began to notice the people behind the tasks.
A former sales manager said his calls had been focused on numbers. Following his hospitalization, his conversations slowed down; he tuned into tone, remembered birthdays, and invested time helping new hires adapt. Those behaviors emerged directly from an acute awareness of how fragile life can be.
What This Means for Everyone Else
It’s tempting to assume these changes only affect people who survived medical crises, but their insights mirror broader workforce trends. More employees want jobs that do more than pay the bills. They want assurance that the hours they commit each week contribute to something meaningful.
Organizations are starting to respond. Many companies are cultivating cultures that support autonomy, purpose, and genuine human connection. Research indicates that employees who find meaning in their work are more engaged, more committed, and less prone to burnout.
A Change in Perspective
Image via Unsplash/Benjamin Wedemeyer
People have debated what makes a good job for decades. Still, when someone who nearly died says they are changing how they work, the message is hard to ignore. Trend reports may not say it bluntly, but the perspective is clear: when you confront your own mortality, work changes. Priorities shift, relationships gain weight, and many people begin to seek meaning over metrics.
That shift has implications for employers and employees alike. For individuals, it can mean rethinking career goals and aligning daily work with personal values. For organizations, it means creating environments where autonomy, purpose, and human connection are not afterthoughts but integral parts of how work gets done. When work reflects what matters most to people, engagement rises and burnout declines—outcomes that benefit both people and the organizations they serve.