How to know if your employer is serious about helping you find purpose in your work

Paychecks are important, of course, but many people also want their work to “matter”. Whether this means helping people in your local area, or contributing to a global cause like reducing waste and fighting the climate crisis, 70% of respondents to a 2020 survey^[1] said their personal sense of purpose is largely defined by their work.

Organisations often use the promise of “purpose” at work^[2] to attract and retain employees. They may offer you the opportunity to personally contribute to doing some lasting good beyond just completing tasks and earning a wage. This could include positive social or ecological outcomes^[3] inside and outside the organisation, such as reducing carbon emissions or creating decent jobs in economically deprived communities.

This sort of purpose-driven work can be embedded in specific roles such as sustainability manager or equality, diversity and inclusion officer. Or it could be a broader promise to use your skills and develop expertise toward public good. For example, they could offer competitions to help employees develop business solutions to social issues^[4].

So, highlighting purpose is a good strategy for recruiting and retaining talent. But once you’re in such a job, you may find your day-to-day work doesn’t really deliver on this promise^[5]. Maybe your employer hasn’t kept its pledge, or it’s offering a form of “purpose-washing^[6]”. This is when a company makes promises based on more than profit maximisation but doesn’t follow through with consistent actions.

Following the police killing of George Floyd^[7] in May 2020, for example, the rate of new chief diversity officers hired nearly tripled in three months^[8] versus the previous 16 months. But three years later, corporate America is now reducing diversity initiatives^[9] and associated roles^[10] again.

This article is part of Quarter Life^[11], a series about issues affecting those of us in our twenties and thirties. From the challenges of beginning a career and taking care of our mental health, to the excitement of starting a family, adopting a pet or just making friends as an adult. The articles in this series explore the questions and bring answers as we navigate this turbulent period of life. You may be interested in: Why young workers are leaving fossil fuel jobs – and what to do if you feel like ‘climate quitting’^[12] How to challenge toxic behaviour and help someone being bullied or harassed at work^[13] Trust is important if you want to succeed at work – here’s how to build it^[14] So, if your (future) employer promises purpose, how do you know if this will be a genuine and lasting opportunity for you to do some good through your work? Research highlights five green flags that can show an organisation is not only committed, but can actually deliver on its “purpose promises”. 1. It commits resources People pursuing purpose at work often face significant challenges accessing resources^[15]. Dedicating time, money, training and staff will help purpose-driven work effectively achieve objective social or ecological goals, but it also helps you feel like you are “making a difference”. For example, your company could provide learning budgets and dedicated innovation time by default. It should also communicate these resources in job adverts and employment contracts. Appropriately resourcing the work and providing wellbeing support also protects you from exploitation. When purpose is not authentic^[16] or strategically aligned with an organisation’s priorities, it can leave employees vulnerable to exploitation and burn-out^[17]. This is what happens when organisations use the motivational power of purpose to extract value from employees by justifying extreme working hours and limited resources, for example. 2. ‘Purpose’ is clear and relevant to all Purpose-driven work often starts with a small group of people pushing for change. If other employees do not understand this work, it creates a gap^[18] between the purpose vision and the tasks these small groups can perform. Putting purpose into practice requires making it clear and relevant to all organisational roles. Often, this means creating incentives for collaboration beyond specific mandates and departments. For example, if you’re a designer that creates sustainable product packaging, you’ll feel your work has less impact if the product is still shipped to customers in massive boxes cushioned with polystyrene. Research also shows it can be easier to achieve purpose-driven aims when the groups pushing for change within an organisation intentionally include workers across gender and race^[19], as well as people from different occupations^[20] and levels of the organisation^[21]. 3. You are shown the impact of your work Pursuing purpose is challenging because impact takes time and is often invisible. Even if your work embeds purpose at its core – if you work for a social enterprise^[22] or an animal shelter^[23] – you may not always see the full picture of how what you do makes a difference. This can make you question your impact. To address this challenge, organisations need to provide employees with opportunities to see the impact of their work^[24]. This can include sharing reports or case studies with the rest of the organisation, or facilitating feedback conversations^[25] with the people who benefit from your work.

References

1. ^{^} a 2020 survey (www.mckinsey.com)
2. ^{^} promise of “purpose” at work (www.kcl.ac.uk)
3. ^{^} positive social or ecological outcomes (journals.sagepub.com)
4. ^{^} develop business solutions to social issues (journals.sagepub.com)
5. ^{^} doesn’t really deliver on this promise (www.bbc.co.uk)
6. ^{^} purpose-washing (www.kcl.ac.uk)
7. ^{^} police killing of George Floyd (www.nytimes.com)
8. ^{^} nearly tripled in three months (www.latimes.com)
9. ^{^} diversity initiatives (www.motherjones.com)
10. ^{^} associated roles (abcnews.go.com)
11. ^{^} This article is part of Quarter Life (theconversation.com)
12. ^{^} Why young workers are leaving fossil fuel jobs – and what to do if you feel like ‘climate quitting’ (theconversation.com)
13. ^{^} How to challenge toxic behaviour and help someone being bullied or harassed at work (theconversation.com)
14. ^{^} Trust is important if you want to succeed at work – here’s how to build it (theconversation.com)
15. ^{^} accessing resources (onlinelibrary.wiley.com)
16. ^{^} authentic (hbr.org)
17. ^{^} burn-out (journals.sagepub.com)
18. ^{^} creates a gap (pubsonline.informs.org)
19. ^{^} gender and race (link.springer.com)
20. ^{^} occupations (journals.sagepub.com)
21. ^{^} levels of the organisation (www.journals.uchicago.edu)
22. ^{^} work for a social enterprise (journals.sagepub.com)
23. ^{^} animal shelter (journals.aom.org)
24. ^{^} see the impact of their work (journals.aom.org)
25. ^{^} feedback conversations (www.sciencedirect.com)
26. ^{^} BigPixel Photo/Shutterstock (www.shutterstock.com)
27. ^{^} recruiting and keeping talent (www.researchgate.net)
28. ^{^} disconnected from your values (journals.sagepub.com)
29. ^{^} redefine what counts as doing business (journals.sagepub.com)
30. ^{^} Vitsoe’s (www.vitsoe.com)
31. ^{^} how they operate and what they value (www.sciencedirect.com)
32. ^{^} is not enough (sifted.eu)
33. ^{^} and to feel valued for doing so (www.sciencedirect.com)
34. ^{^} meaning at work (www.kcl.ac.uk)
35. ^{^} anyone who cares about finding solutions to social and ecological challenges (onlinelibrary.wiley.com)