How HR Can Create a Sense of Purpose in the Workplace
Creating a sense of employee purpose within your workplace will motivate your team.
Employees spend a majority of their waking hours at work. They want more than simply to show up, do their job, collect a paycheck, and go back home. Giving your workforce a clear sense of purpose keeps your employees motivated, happy, and content.
In a recent study, the Limeade institute discovered that 97% of employees with a clear sense that they work with purpose felt more engaged and satisfied at work, compared to only 55% of workers who were struggling to find their work meaningful. That makes creating a sense of purpose an essential task for HR professionals. In this article, we’ll explore the top 6 ways your human resources department can help foster a sense of employee purpose within the workplace.
97% of employees with a clear sense that they work with purpose felt more engaged and satisfied at work, compared to only 55% of workers who were struggling to find their work meaningful.
Why work with purpose is important for employees
Purpose-driven organizations often embrace diversity, reward innovation, and encourage differing opinions — all of which help promote meaningfulness at work for your employees.
Help your employees develop a purpose-driven mindset at work. This will lead to higher retention, less turnover, and improved productivity. Focusing on employee motivation and motivating teams helps:
- Improve engagement
- Improve productivity
- Encourage better performance
- Increase overall job satisfaction
But how do you inspire your employees to work with purpose?
How to create a sense of purpose for your teams
Discover how your HR department can offer a healthy work-life balance and help employees find meaning and purpose in their work. Here are the top 6 tips for motivating your team and boosting employee engagement.
Set goals
Providing regular feedback, creating clear expectations, and encouraging individual contributions all work in harmony toward building a positive outlook among your workforce. Hiring managers can work with the HR department to help employees feel a sense of purpose at work. Here are some ways:
- Work on setting realistic goals for each member of your team
- Discuss job-related performance objectives
- Let them know how they can contribute to the current and future success of your organization
Providing regular feedback, creating clear expectations, and encouraging individual contributions all work in harmony toward building a positive outlook among your workforce.
Recognize outstanding achievements
Encourage your team to take on new challenges, tasks, and projects. Also, be sure to reward major achievements and important milestones. Recognizing a job well done helps foster an encouraging company culture and improve employee morale.
A simple monthly breakfast buffet honoring top performers or the employee of the month is a great way to celebrate recent wins. This type of support from HR and hiring managers builds employees’ self-esteem, self-respect, and confidence.
Provide growth and learning opportunities
Employee training should include more than the first week of onboarding new hires. Your HR team should create opportunities for continued employee growth by investing in their ongoing training and education.
Support your workforce to help them:
- Build upon their skills
- Learn new software and systems
- Have a clear path toward advancement
All of this adds to a sense of purpose. Providing employees with self-development opportunities also helps them feel secure knowing they have a future with your company.
Make their work matter
Giving your employees a clear sense of purpose keeps them engaged at work and fosters overall job satisfaction. Rather than focusing on specific tasks outlined in their job description, let each member of your team know how they are making a difference. Schedule time on your calendar for conversations that summarize how each member of your staff is making an impact and contributing to your company’s mission statement.
Purpose-driven communication through one-on-one and team meetings helps foster authentic relationships and works as a great employee motivational tool. Providing each member of your team with a brief outline can:
- Bring focus to each meeting
- Guide the discussion
- Give employees time to prepare any questions
Encourage community outreach
Corporate social responsibility focuses on getting involved with philanthropic organizations and giving back to the community to build a positive company culture. Volunteering time with nonprofit organizations, such as the American Diabetes Association, Multiple Sclerosis Society, or Leukemia and Lymphoma Society helps workers feel a sense of purpose outside of regular working hours. Your human resource department can get in on the action by organizing company teams to participate in local walks that support a favorite charity such as the American Heart Association Heart Walk.
You can even invite friends and families of employees to join in on the fun. This is a great method for increasing employee involvement when they can walk with their children, spouse, or loved one. Investing in employee well-being through the creation of a corporate health and wellness strategy builds the team, fosters trust, and increases engagement.
Offer flexible work options
The workplace environment is always evolving, and discussions of a remote-first workplace are filling up news feeds. The pandemic proved that nontraditional working arrangements are thriving. Working on site 9 to 5 at the corporate headquarters is no longer the norm. More and more businesses are offering flexible work options — from working from home to a hybrid office/telecommute solution.
Coworking or sharing office space is another option that works well if you work with outside freelancers or part-time employees. This gives your contractors the option to work from your office when they are in town while seasonal or temporary workers have a dedicated workspace to call home.
Offering alternative and virtual working arrangements is also a great way to diversify your team since you can now hire anyone from any location.
Living and working with purpose
Building a sense of purpose at your company is more than a temporary fad. It also helps foster a healthy work-life balance among your employees.
Creating meaningfulness at work is more than offering a comprehensive benefits package, a big promotion, or a pay raise. Share the bigger picture — mission statements and vision statements that define the organization’s goals and objectives now and in the future. When employees feel like they are contributing to the success of your company, this provides them with a sense of purpose that’s more powerful than punching a clock.
