Would you forgo a pay raise if it meant more meaningful work? One survey says millennials would – and this isn’t breaking news, survey after survey has found that millennials are seeking meaningful work over other perks. This trend appears to stretch into Gen Z with Boomers and Gen Xers also seeing the draw.
You don’t have to be a not-for-profit, charity or social enterprise to offer meaningful work and engage employees. Every business can embed meaningful work into their model as long as it is authentic. For employees to truly feel engaged they have to believe their work has impact, they are supported in a growth mindset, and they have agency to pursue their passion. As you can see, these elements are not tied to the businesses mission, but relate to how an organization is set up to empower its people. Check out the following 5 tips on how to boost employee engagement (and more here):
Adopt a growth mindset among leadership. Quick lesson: a fixed mindset means these are my capabilities and the extent of my potential. A growth mindset means there is no boundary to my capabilities as they constantly extend through trial and error. So, have your team leaders embrace making mistakes, trying new ideas and taking risks in a safe environment so employees have the opportunity to be challenged and grow.
Make sure everyone in the organization knows how their role contributes to the success of the company.
Build in regular opportunities for employees to put ideas forward, try them and report back on the outcomes.
Offer paid time off for employees to complete volunteer work and donate to charities.
Make civic engagement a part of company culture!
Let’s expand on number 5 for a bit! Intentional culture is a result of the work you do to reflect defined qualities and curated environments in the workplace. This often includes team building activities, internal competitions, social events etc. Consider aligning your organization with a charity that relates to your vision mission and feeds the passion on your team. Shift the events listed to include civic engagement with this charity. Make your team building activity a volunteer day, you internal competition tied to sourcing the most of a given resource to donate, organize your social event on location of the charity to learn more about their services. When employees can tie personal feel good moments and pride to their place of work it’s a win-win-win. Employees feel engaged at work, people have time built into their schedule to give back and local charities benefit from regular strong relationships in the business community. Employee engagement through authentic, sincere civic engagement!
One of Botree's valued community partners is WE Unite, a not-for-profit that empowers its employees, clients and partners to support their community-changing initiatives at every opportunity. What causes does your business support?