“Employees expect their employers to bring a significant amount of purpose to their lives.
Those that don’t meet this expectation, will lose talent to companies that do”
Help your employees find purpose or watch them leave, Mckinsey 2021

Not only does purpose help to recruit and retain top talent, create meaningful differentiation, enhance brand loyalty, build relationships, and establish trust with customers and investors, but it can also be a competitive advantage.

“Purpose-driven companies make more money, have more engaged employees and more loyal customers, and are even better at innovation and transformational change.” Harvard Business School, The Business Case for Purpose.

According to McKinsey, work plays a critical role for how 85% of us realise our purpose and we also actively look for our workplace to provide opportunities to contribute to it.

“Personal purpose is the intersection between what you love, what you are good at and how you can contribute to society or the world”. Professor Alyson Meister

Simply put, if you connect with your work on that personal level, you are naturally more engaged and motivated- and it’s a hot topic. Post pandemic, over two thirds of employees are reflecting on their purpose, with prospective talent showing signs of veering away from big brand employers and instead looking for companies that fit with their values.

Whilst companies don’t ‘give’ purpose to a person- they can be a conduit and it is the organisation’s role and crucially, opportunity, to figure out how to help their people realise what matters to them and to figure out whether or not they can create a role or an experience within the company that helps meet that.

Companies often fall short on delivering valuable purpose for their people by only looking at the financial contribution. However, how individuals look to fulfil their purpose often goes so much further than this and is more often defined by through comradery and community, learning, leadership, creating opportunities for others to thrive, as well as taking pride in and being recognised for adding value – and finally having the opportunity to use the organisation’s platform to do more good in the world.

Make a difference to how your employees feel about your company today

Here are 5 tips that can help integrate purpose into the heart of what you do, helping build out a meaningful and fulfilling company culture and ultimately enabling your workforce to thrive.

1. Have 100% clarity & conviction in your company purpose. A well defined purpose statement clearly articulates a company’s core reason for being and its resulting positive impact on the world, and should answer the question of, ‘What would the world lose if the company wasn’t there?’ But gone are the days where a company’s purpose statement can be hidden on an About Us action on the website. A superficial approach to purpose doesn’t work, in fact, it can do considerable harm. At a time where there is  tremendous need for change in the world, having an authentic organisational purpose is about spending real time reflecting on the impact a company has on the world. It’s not just about nice corporate social responsibility contributions and making big statements, it’s actually about tracking and measuring your impact and engaging your employees along the way.
   
2. Immerse your people in your vision. It’s important for companies to connect their people to the ‘why’ behind their corporate purpose and break down their mission into a key values framework that can be understood by everyone inside the company- at all levels. In order to do this, companies need to help employees translate their purpose into value within their working day, as when work is aligned with the company’s own purpose, that sense of fulfilment will ultimately benefit the company too. Whether you’re leading a team that’s working on-site, remotely, or anything in between, the ability to maintain high levels of human connectivity and genuine engagement around the things they truly care about is crucial. Organisations that engage their people with energy, vibrancy, enthusiasm, and the feeling of forward progress that ultimately contributes to job satisfaction and overall wellbeing. Those whose people are disengaged are exactly the opposite.
   
3. Build a workplace community. Connection is perhaps the most crucial component in building a productive and efficient workplace – however, in the new hybrid working world, the surface level connections developed from a high level of  virtual meetings can make work a very lonely place. This is why it is important to push beyond this and help employees connect on a deeper, more informal relationships based on shared interests and passions. Relationships that go beyond simply ‘getting along with’ a co-worker drive enhanced collaboration, nurture healthy working relationships and create increased company engagement and loyalty. These strong social connections also make people happier and physically healthier, which can translate into improved work performance.
   
4. Use data to understand your people. It is essential to understand your people’s personal purpose and passions in order to build strong People, Engagement, and CSR strategies and programmes that are reflective of the workforce’s current needs. Understanding your people in this way, will also enable you to further embed and land the organisational purpose across the company, help you identify trends to further unite your workforce and enable you to anticipate and proactively to respond future needs – creating the perfect platform for a thriving and loyal workforce.
   
5. Help your people become a Force for Good. According to Mckinsey, people want to work for an organisation that cares and has some kind of social impact, if you want the best talent, you need to make sure you invest in what drives and motivates them, or else they will leave. But for companies that build in their commitment to making a positive impact on the world by tackling some of the world’s most pressing social and environmental needs can expect to attract and retain talent whilst helping creating a deep connection and alignment with the organisation in a highly motivated atmosphere. By building a corporate social responsibility programme around societal needs, that engages employees and taps into their own personal purpose, greater performance follows.

The benefits of getting it right

For companies that get it right and the change in your workforce will be dramatic, with employees reporting to be;

• 6.5x more likely to be resilient to change
• 4x more likely to report better health and mental wellbeing
• 6x more likely to want to stay at the company
• 1.5x more likely to go above and beyond to make their company successful

How can Force for Good help?

Combining our own experience working in the tech, lifestyle, financial services, healthcare, sporting and non-profit spaces as well as years of professional expertise and individual passions for charitable giving, we have created a digital solution that can help companies realise their internal and external purpose and embed it into the heart of their employer brands.

Force for Good is a modular all-in-one tech solution (app & management portal) which helps connect and engage employees by their passions and fuels them with purpose, by further activating CSR initiatives. We’re always happy to chat about employee engagement and motivation, as well as share tips on running an effective engagement and CSR initiatives, so don’t hesitate to get in touch with our team today.