The world of work is changing quickly and constantly, and many employees today say they are losing their bearings. In response, some are looking for more than just a salary, and the question of the purpose of work is becoming a real issue for businesses.
Against this backdrop, many HR managers find themselves faced with a dilemma or at least a challenge: aligning individual aspirations with business objectives.
Purpose: a subject not to be underestimated, but not to be overestimated either
Purpose is a fairly old concept in HR and management, but it’s only been a few years since it became a priority for some. We don’t need to think long and hard to understand why, given the speed with which we are experiencing crises and major transformations in all areas, with employees looking for something to hold on to.
It’s a subject not to be underestimated, and when I hear “they’ve got a job and a salary, what more do they want?
But, and I know I’m not only going to make friends in the humanist, right-thinking movement that seems to dominate the discourse, purpose may not be everything, and certainly not for everyone.
There are people for whom work is merely a means to other ends. It’s used to finance a passion for art, for travel, to help a close relative in difficulty and so on. It’s at the service of something higher and more meaningful, whereas work is just a means to an end.
I’m even among those who think this is a good thing: when work represents everything in a person’s life, it’s an imbalance that can be dangerous and damaging in the long term, a bit like having your colleagues as your only social relations(What the loneliness of some remote workers really tells us).
Nor should purpose be used as a smokescreen for fundamental obligations, taking advantage of a strong commitment or even dedication to pass off poor working conditions or wages.
So I won’t go so far as to say that everyone is looking for a purpose, and that this is the alpha and omega of employee engagement. But for those for whom it matters, it is indeed urgent to work on the subject.
What are we talking about?
We’re talking about a concept that goes way beyond job satisfaction, and I mean satisfaction, not happiness (Bye bye happiness at work, hello satisfaction). It includes things like alignment with personal values, the perception of positive impact and the feeling of contributing to a goal greater than oneself.
According to McKinsey, 70% of employees say that their purpose at work is strongly linked to their identification with the values of the business (Help your employees find purpose-or watch them leave). That’s a lot, but it confirms that a third of employees don’t give a damn, which is no mean feat either. No purpose without defining and communicating a clear vision
As Simon Sinek says in Start With Why, a strong vision fosters loyalty and engagement.
So it’s up to businesses to develop an inspiring and coherent vision with authentic values, which is no mean feat in some cases. Businesses have a history, and employees and even the market have memories, so senswashing by arriving one fine morning with a speech and convictions that fall from the sky doesn’t work. It’s even worse than doing nothing.
Next, you’ll be told that this vision must be communicated to the teams, emphasizing how each person, each role, contributes to this overall objective. Yes, that’s the basis, but it’s far from enough.
Communication is not and must not be a substitute for action! Vision is like values: employees want to see it applied! If employees struggle to find answers to the question “how do you see the vision existing in concrete terms in your day-to-day life”, there’s a problem.
Purpose through employee experience
We sometimes hear that “the customer is a one-person market”, but the same should also be said of employees (The post-covid employee: an elusive one-person market), all of whom have their own unique aspirations, which sometimes vary regularly over time.
It is therefore essential to personalize their career path within the business , and to listen to them on a regular basis, in order to understand their deepest motivations and adapt their missions so that they are in line with their personal objectives. This reinforces engagement, which in turn is supposed to influence productivity: according to Gallup, engaged employees are in fact 23% more productive (State of the Global Workplace), although not everyone is so affirmative (Employee Engagement: Illusion of Performance or Real Impact?).
Whatever the case, engaged employees are better than the opposite.
Purpose through autonomy and empowerment
For some people, purpose of work comes from the ability to directly influence the course of events and results.This involves moments of autonomy, decision-making and the ability to take initiative (When Autonomy Helps Team Performance – and When It Doesn’t).
I insist on the notion of moments. We often hear that, depending on experience, you can’t give everyone autonomy, and that’s true, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t give it.
However, depending on experience and maturity , you can give everyone more or less autonomy, each at his own level. The more experienced will see it as a form of recognition, the younger as a mark of confidence, and it’s positive in both cases.
Purpose is a living organism
The notion of purpose fluctuates as individual aspirations evolve. One day’s alignment does not always mean alignment.
We therefore need to put in place mechanisms to assess employees’ perception of purpose . Surveys or key indicators such as the employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS) can be used to identify misalignments and make the necessary adjustments.
The importance of personal and professional development
Learn to look after your employees, and the rest will follow”, said Richard Branson. Employees expect businesses to help them develop their skills and maintain their employability.
In fact, the fact of not evolving, of feeling neglected, is a major source of resignations.
They won’t find any purpose in an organization where they don’t develop personally and professionally, where they don’t progress in terms of career and where, to put it more succinctly, they don’t feel they’re being given back what they give.
Review performance evaluation criteria
If I said that purpose wasn’t the alpha and omega of every employee’s engagement, evaluation criteria do send a message and dictate behavior (Tell me how you measure me, I’ll tell you how I’ll behave).
Indicators that value qualitative contributions, social impact or collaborative efforts can help to better align personal aspirations and organizational objectives.
Above all, they must be in line with the business’s vision. When the rhetoric is one way, and the individual assessment criteria encourage you to go the other way, there’s little chance that employees will see the purpose of it all.
Purpose has its limits…
But let’s be realistic: just as I said that not everyone is looking for purpose in their work, not all individual aspirations can be aligned with the needs of the business.
Not everything is black and white, and it’s up to HR to find their way through the gray, even the fog, by striking the right balance between listening and organizational constraints.
Another challenge, at a time when the emphasis is rightly on the collective, which often leads to healthier behaviours than rugged individualism, is to avoid falling into the opposite trap, where individual aspirations are stifled by collective objectives.
The quest for purpose is not a passing trend, but a lasting transformation in the expectations, if not of all employees, at least of a growing number.
HR, which claims to be the architect of the employee experience, has an opportunity here to create environments where individual aspirations and collective objectives are mutually reinforcing. By investing in purpose, businesses are not only meeting the needs of their employees: they are building a sustainable competitive advantage and strengthening their reputation as employers.
But beware: purpose doesn’t work for everyone, and shouldn’t be the trompe l’oeil that hides less flattering practices.
Image: purpose at work by Yuriy K via shutterstock
