“A report by global brand consultancy Calling Brands has revealed a “dramatic shift” in employee attitudes towards work – with corporate ‘purpose’ emerging as a powerful new driver of attraction, retention and productivity that few businesses are leveraging.
As a result the consultancy has urged business leaders to rethink the conventional approach to employee engagement in response to a surge in demand for purpose at work.
After pay, purpose has been revealed as the second most important reason people are attracted to work for, and stay loyal to, an organisation.
According to Crunch Time: The Power of Purpose, working for an organisation with a clearly defined purpose – an underlying ethos that goes beyond commercial and operational goals – ranks ahead of other factors such as level of responsibility in a job and even career progression.
This reveals a fundamental shift in the relationship between employees and the businesses they work for…”
It isn’t at all surprising that purpose was ranked second in the Calling Brands survey, (HR Magazine – http://tinyurl.com/bqzdr7x).
This has simply measured and put it into perspective something that most businesses discovered many years ago. That was why the much derided “mission statement” arose; to define and give everyone the same clear vision of the organisation’s purpose.
“…Across the UK, US and Germany, an average of 52% respondents ranked pay and benefits as most important, purpose was ranked as next most important (18%) ahead of work culture (17%), responsibility (7%) and opportunity for promotion (6%)….
…The survey also revealed that, on average, 57% of respondents (64% Germany, 58% US, 48% UK) said they would favour joining an organisation that has a clearly defined purpose.”
What matters now is how organisations integrate this ‘new discovery’ with motivation schemes to maximise the benefit to the business.
I can now claim over 30 years experience in the incentive and motivation agency business! After five initial years at Grass Roots I joined p&mm in 1989 and, following a management buy-out, the business was floated on AiM in 2004 as Motivcom plc. I sat on the main board through to its fully supported acquisition by Sodexo in September 2014. I continue on the board of the company with an objective to drive its integration with Sodexo and help realise the strategic benefits of being part of a larger international group.
