Is Engagement Enough?

Fulfillment matters to employees. Employee engagement is critical to a company’s financial success, to attracting and retaining talent, and to building a strong culture. Duh. People, including us, have been preaching about that for years, and for good reason – it really does matter.

But, in today’s uber-competitive talent war, employees want even more. More, you might be asking? What else is there? Fulfillment, they want fulfillment.

Employees want to feel like the work they are doing has meaning; they want a sense of purpose. Think about it this way: employee satisfaction is how happy an employee is with their job. Employee engagement is the emotional connection that an employee has with its employer. Employee fulfillment, however, is a step beyond that, and occurs when an employee’s work and internal motivations are aligned, resulting in a sense of both meaning and purpose.

Employee engagement is the emotional connection that an employee has with its employer. Employee fulfillment, however, is a step beyond that, and occurs when an employee’s work and internal motivations are aligned, resulting in a sense of both meaning and purpose.Click To Tweet

A recent study by PwC indicates that there are three critical components to creating a fulfilling experience at work:

  1. Relationships – Do you have a sense of belonging and connection to others? The average employee spends 13 years of their life at work. Quite often, employees spend more time with their co-workers than they do with their own families. Relationships are important.
  2. Impact – Are you making progress toward a goal you believe in? Everyone wants to feel like their work is making a difference, particularly Millennials and, even more so, Gen Z.
  3. Growth – Do you have an opportunity to grow and challenge yourself? No one wants to sit in a cube and do the same thing day in and day out. People actually want to be pushed out of their comfort zone.

And, if employees can’t find purpose and fulfillment in their current job, they’ll look elsewhere. In fact, according to the study referenced above, seven out of 10 employees surveyed said they’d consider leaving their current role for a new, more fulfilling one, with one out of three saying they’d even consider lower pay.

Do you know what’s important to your employees? Do they feel a sense of purpose in the work they’re doing and the environment they’re in? If not, you could be putting your most valuable asset – and your bottom line – at risk.

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