Belief-driven employees seek organizations that make a difference
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I attended Butler University’s commencement ceremony earlier this month. As the graduates walked to their seats with the orchestra playing “Pomp and Circumstance,” several questions floated through my mind. How were these new graduates making decisions about their future? What motivates them? What career paths were they pursuing? How had the pandemic impacted their view of the world?
I work for the Hoosier Cancer Research Network (HCRN), a non-profit helping advance clinical research. I have noticed a new trend within our team – many of our employees are seeking ways to positively impact society through their work. For example, several co-workers have been impacted by cancer with a family member or close friend having a diagnosis. My own father has been living with chronic myeloid leukemia for years, and this impacted my own career decision, albeit much later in life than today’s college graduates.
Seeing this trend at work and hearing friends and colleagues discuss the same issue, I researched the topic and found a World Economic Forum report that said that “employees are becoming more ‘belief-driven’ in the wake of the pandemic, with 6 in 10 of those changing jobs seeking a better fit between their own and their employer’s corporate values.” Employees are becoming increasingly focused on social impact and personal values, and fewer focused primarily on compensation.
In fact, one of our newest team members told me that she has “always been interested in nonprofit work. My family has been affected by cancer and knowing that what I am doing and working toward is for a worthy cause is important.”
She is a recent college graduate and went on to tell me that she was never that interested in sciences, but it was our organization’s mission that drew her to HCRN. She stated that “I want to get out of bed for more than a paycheck.”
Another report, the 2021 Edelman Trust Barometer Special Report: The Belief-Driven Employee, confirms that she is not alone. As a result of the pandemic, workers’ values have evolved, and they are more focused on their work having a meaningful impact on issues important to them. The report concludes that these impact-driven, or belief-driven employees, have three key considerations when choosing an employer:
- Traditional pay and career advancement,
- Focus on having a flexible work environment, and
- Working for an employer that helps with society’s biggest challenges.
The Edelman Report confirms that the “line between people’s personal and professional lives has become more blurred than ever. And this has made many reconsider their employment.”
For companies, this should be a welcome shift. We all want mission-driven, committed people and the report’s data says that these employees are “more likely to stay with the company for many years (76%) and recommend the company to other recruits (76%).” That is great news for employers who can connect their company goals with those of the prospective employee.
Fulfillment at work can take many different forms – it could be opportunities for advancement, compensation, the people, or just doing work that you enjoy. All of these can be critical components to job happiness.
But it is becoming clearer to me that our younger generations and even some of us with a few decades under our belts are seeking to get more out of work.
As employers, we need to consider that our employees are looking for more. You might ask your teams: How do we harness the interest and energy of these employees in social impact and connect it to our corporate goals? How do we communicate our corporate values to potential employees? How do we ensure that our employees’ interest in social impact does not hinder our ability to serve our clients and successfully accomplish our work?
As our newest hire told me, “I think that it would be hard to go work for an organization that doesn’t have a mission, because I’ve seen what it’s like to work for an organization that does.” Recognizing this interest in impactful work may help companies attract belief-driven employees.