Aussies motivated to find meaningful jobs

Every morning Amber Archbold jumps out of bed and has a spring in her step on the way to work.

But it wasn't always like that.

She used to work in hospitality and while she enjoyed aspects of it, she really didn't feel as though it provided any meaning for those she worked for.

But her decision to study counselling and in turn work in disability care has given her an excuse to jump out of bed and roll into work.

Caring for Stevie who lives with Down Syndrome, Amber says she's never had so much fun in a job.

"I was doing a little bit of hotel management, conferencing - which is where I thought I wanted to go," she told AAP.

"But I wasn't really working for a bigger purpose. So I made a change."

The 31-year-old, from Melbourne, is one of a growing number of people leaving their current jobs in search for personal fulfilment.

Research by National Australia Bank found that one in five people changed jobs in the past year and almost one in four are considering it.

The study surveyed 1200 people and found that the most popular reason for leaving a job was a lack of purpose or meaning - closely followed by lack of career growth.

Younger workers (33 per cent) are more likely to have changed jobs in recent years compared to older employees (18 per cent), particularly in the last 12 months.

The biggest turnover was in agribusiness, health services, finance and insurance, retail and property services.

Australian Associated Press