3 ways to create a rewarding employee experience by doubling down on meaningful work
Photo by Guy Kawasaki on Unsplash
Anyone who’s been following us for a little while, or is tapped into how the world of work is changing, knows that meaningful, rewarding work is where it’s at, and is a key driver in attracting and retaining top talent for your organisation. Research has found that when employees find their work to be meaningful, they are 75% more committed to their work, and are 49% less likely to leave their organisation.
Crystallising what meaningful work truly means however can feel a little tricky, and personally I’m constantly growing my understanding of it. Generally talk of reward has people thinking about salaries, bonuses and benefits. Sure - those things have always been, and continue to be, really important mechanisms for reward and have to be used equitably. But lately, the needle has been moving fast on a few areas that aren’t measured in dollars or days off…
In my recent conversation with the awesome Meredith Buchanan, Head of People and Culture at Covers, we explored the idea of meaningful work a little further. Here are the three things that stood out to me:
Create clarity first
Part of creating meaningful work is knowing why you exist as an organisation and being able to speak to this. This is also known as organisational purpose. Aligning around purpose, first and foremost as leaders of an organisation, and articulating it is crucial to help the rest of your team connect to it too.
As Meredith highlights, why you exist as an organisation goes straight to the heart of the impact you have on the people you serve. How are you making the lives of the people in your community better? And as leader, how are you then helping your teams to connect their own personal drivers to the impact you make as an organisation and help them see the role they play in creating this impact?
It’s not one size fits all
Being on the same page about why we’re all here is a great start (and you can read more about purpose and how to bring this clarity to your organisation in our Guide to Finding Purpose). But it’s important to recognise that what is meaningful for one person, might not be meaningful for others. So alongside creating clarity around your purpose, there’s an opportunity to dig a little deeper and understand more about why people come and work with you. Or more importantly, why they stay working with you.
What Meredith discovered at Covers is that most people feel they’re in their dream job for one of two reasons:
1. Passion - they get to work in sports and have loved sports all their lives
2. People - they get to work with an incredible team
Understanding these key drivers, passion and people, helped Meredith to articulate core promises in their employee experience.
Passion: you’ll do the work that matters
People: you’ll be part of an all-star team
Baking this into the culture has been fundamental in growing the team and is what has set Covers apart from other organisations (read more about their promises here).
Intentionally celebrating the impact your people make
We all want to feel valued for the contribution and impact we make, and this is a huge part of feeling rewarded for the work we do. Many of us are so busy most of the time that we forget to pause and celebrate our team mates for the great work they’re doing.
Meredith recommends investing time as an organisation to build your muscle around celebrating people. Make it a core feature of your culture and intentionally set up rituals and practices that give people an opportunity to celebrate each other. This not only makes people feel valued, it also provides a moment for connection.
Listen to our podcast, Reimagining Work from Within, for the full conversation with Meredith and to hear about fun, creative ways Meredith and the team have embraced to recognise each other - from values’ awards to a Hall of Fame, and much more!
How can you as a leader create a rewarding employee experience?
For us at Within, the topics Meredith has highlighted form a key part of creating an equitable employee experience. Through our work we’ve established four critical areas that should be considered when intentionally designing your employee experience and we support clients to make employee promises for each area: flexible, connected, growing and of course rewarding.