From a Wall Street Journal story by Russell Adams headlined “How Companies Are Tackling Job Misery”:

What is as good as a raise? A break from drudgery.

More companies are betting on it as they try to retain and attract workers in a persistently tight labor market. They are cutting down on meetings and mundane tasks, easing the discomfort of physical jobs and giving employees more say in how and when they work.

These initiatives aren’t solely for the benefit of the people doing the work. Many of these steps aim to make employees more efficient, a growing focus across a range of industries as executives respond to economic uncertainty and the threat of a recession.