It was the Portuguese writer and poet Fernando Pessoa who brought the concept of saudade to a global audience beyond his native Portugal. The word—carrying those subtle nuances inherent to any language—describes a blend of longing and melancholy for something lost or, worse still, something never truly possessed. In English, we call it nostalgia. Yet beyond everyday language, the concept also carries a precise technical history.
When Dr Johannes Hofer observed the homesickness experienced by Swiss mercenaries stationed abroad for long periods in 1688, he coined a new word to describe it. Nostalgia was born as a medical term derived from two roots: nóstos (return) and álgos (pain). There is always an element of heartache in nostalgia—the ache of calling up a past that has irretrievably slipped away.
Inside this article:
We can feel nostalgia for many things: our childhood, a favourite holiday spot, or a first love. We might miss long afternoons with a grandparent, a meal we will never taste again, or a bygone era. As Professor Yiannis Gabriel notes, nostalgia is a resurrection of the past, allowing us to "approach that past in a radiant light"—perhaps even more radiant than it was at the time.
Nostalgia has commanded significant attention and inspired great works across the arts. Frédéric Chopin’s music or Edward Hopper’s paintings can instantly transport us back in time. Popular television series and films set in the 1980s, such as Stranger Things, evoke similar feelings. Yet artistic expressions are not the only walks of life where nostalgia takes hold.
Can we feel nostalgic about our workplaces? About our jobs? Evidence suggests we can, and that organisational nostalgia can actually bring positive results.
Yiannis Gabriel, a professor at the University of Bath, introduced the concept of organisational nostalgia in a groundbreaking 1993 chapter. Based on research across five organisations involving 126 interviews, he argued that employees experience nostalgia for former office buildings, departed colleagues, a vanished company ethos, previous ways of working, or past business triumphs.
In short, workplace environments evoke nostalgic emotions. More specifically, organisational nostalgia is defined as a feeling of affectionate, wistful longing for past events and personal experiences within a company. It is far from a fringe phenomenon.
Organisational nostalgia is defined as a feeling of affectionate, wistful longing for past events and personal experiences within a company.
Building on Gabriel’s work, researchers have continued to examine how organisational nostalgia impacts workplaces. A recent study published in the Journal of Vocational Behavior set out to determine whether a direct link exists between goal attainment and organisational nostalgia.
Before getting down to details, it is worth noting an emerging trend in academic literature: a growing recognition of the distinction between self-set employee targets (personal work goals) and company-mandated targets (professional work goals).
Authors of a recent study set out to determine whether a direct link exists between goal attainment and organisational nostalgia.
Self-imposed goals matter far more than they might seem. When employees achieve these personal milestones, it directly correlates with higher productivity and individual well-being. Personal work goals are often more ambitious than company-assigned targets, carry deeper personal meaning, and play a stronger role in defining identity. Consequently, organisations would do well to keep them firmly in sight.
As noted earlier, nostalgia is far from a purely negative emotion. A research team led by Marius van Dijke at the Rotterdam School of Management (Erasmus University) proposes that organisational nostalgia can streamline prioritization and boost the energy dedicated to personal work goals. To test this theory, they conducted three interconnected empirical studies.
The first study surveyed a sample of 245 participants across two separate stages. Initially, individuals were asked to list three personal goals and three organisational goals, alongside completing measures for organisational nostalgia and demographic information.
The findings revealed that individuals experiencing higher levels of organisational nostalgia tended to prioritize their most critical personal work goals.
Three weeks later, participants reported on how they had pursued these six goals, ranking them by importance. The results confirmed that employees with higher organisational nostalgia prioritized their most vital personal work goals over secondary ones. This pattern was absent among participants with lower nostalgia levels; those who felt less nostalgic did not focus as intensely on their key personal goals—an outcome that, as we have seen, ultimately benefits the organization as well.
This does not mean nostalgic individuals naturally prioritize better by default. Rather, fond memories tied to the organisation and the professional relationships built within it serve as a catalyst for effective goal prioritization.
The researchers then ran a second experimental study to determine whether nostalgia directly causes better prioritization of key personal work goals. Here, participants listed three work goals, ranked them by importance, and categorized them as personal, organisational, or shared (joint targets between the employee and the business).
The results confirmed that invoking organisational nostalgia increases the prioritization of key personal work goals.
This analysis was conducted with 291 participants randomly assigned to either an experimental or a control group. In the experimental condition, a nostalgic workplace memory was actively prompted. The results confirmed that invoking organisational nostalgia increases the prioritization of key personal work goals, though it does not impact purely organisational or shared goals.
In a third study published in the same paper, 222 participants reported daily on their organisational nostalgia and goal progress over ten consecutive working days. At the outset, they listed three personal and three organisational work goals, ranked them by priority, and provided demographic data.
Organisational nostalgia is not an invitation to live in the past, but rather a way to leverage our finest memories as momentum to tackle new challenges and continue growing.
At the end of each workday, participants were asked about two specific goals (one personal and one organisational) and the effort invested in them. The results indicated that participants experiencing higher organisational nostalgia consistently dedicated greater effort to their top personal goals, though not necessarily to their organizational ones.
Research into organisational nostalgia offers meaningful takeaways for both individuals and organisations.
For individuals
- Positive memories can help us rediscover purpose at work. Recalling exciting projects, influential colleagues, or moments of shared success can reignite motivation and reconnect us with what makes our work meaningful.
- Relationships leave a lasting mark on our career paths. A large portion of nostalgic memories stem from the people we have worked alongside. Nurturing workplace relationships enriches the present while building a reservoir of positive memories that can inspire us years down the line.
- Looking back can help us prepare for the future. Reflecting on positive experiences is not a sign of resisting change. In many cases, revisiting past motivators helps us approach future challenges with greater confidence.
For organisations
- Organisations build memories, too. Beyond results and metrics, companies create shared experiences that linger in people's minds and continue to shape commitment long after the fact.
- Celebrating collective wins has a lasting impact. Recognizing milestones, sharing stories of overcoming adversity, or highlighting flagship projects fosters a positive organizational memory that serves as a powerful source of future motivation.
- Transformations should not completely erase the past. During mergers, organizational shifts, or restructurings, preserving core symbols, values, or shared narratives helps maintain a sense of continuity and eases team adaptation.
- Leaders serve as guardians of organisational memory. Remembering a team’s origins, acknowledging past contributors, and passing down core workplace stories strengthens an employee's sense of belonging.
- Companies that honor their history help their people build their future. Organisational nostalgia is not an invitation to live in the past, but rather a way to leverage our finest memories as momentum to tackle new challenges and continue growing.
Ultimately, organizational nostalgia is not about remaining anchored in the past or romanticizing bygone eras. The results suggest that positive memories linked to an organization serve as a valuable resource, helping individuals channel their energy toward what matters most.
Sources:
- Gabriel, Y. (1993) Organizational Nostalgia: Reflections on “The Golden Age”. In: Fineman, S., Ed., Emotion in Organizations, Sage, London, 118-141.
- Leunissen, J. M., Sedikides, C., Wildschut, T., & Cohen, T. R. (2018). Organizational nostalgia lowers turnover intentions by increasing work meaning: The moderating role of burnout. Journal of occupational health psychology, 23(1), 44.
Dr Marc Grau is Professor of Social and Family Policy at the Education Sciences Faculty, UIC Barcelona, and Coordinator of the Joaquím Molins Figueras Chair for Childcare and Family Policies. He was research fellow at Harvard Kennedy School (2016-2022) and has a Master in Business Administration from ESADE Business School, as well as a Master in Social and Political Science from the University Pompeu Fabra and Doctorate in Social Policy from Edinburgh University. He has published several books, including The Work-Family Balance in Light of Globalization and Technology (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2017), The New Ideal Worker (Springer, 2019), Engaged Fatherhood (Springer, 2022) and Human Flourishing (Springer, 2023). He is currently Co-Editor of the magazine Community, Work and Family.