Purpose is the greatest driver of workplace success, and businesses that have been intentional about cultivating it have seen undeniable results. Even though some jobs may lend themselves more readily to social purpose than others, Bea offers some surprising stories of those who have accepted the challenge and made it happen. The world around us is “whispering its needs” to us — we need only set aside our wants and contribute to something bigger than ourselves.
GUEST AT A GLANCE
Bea Boccalandro is the author of Do Good at Work: How Simple Acts of Social Purpose Drive Success and Wellbeing and the founder and president of VeraWorks. She has two decades of experience helping businesses create meaningful work and fifteen years of experience teaching corporate social purpose and corporate social responsibility at the university level.
A QUICK GLIMPSE INTO OUR PODCAST
🔊 Podcast: Transform Your Workplace, sponsored by Xenium HR
🎙️ Host: Brandon Laws
📋 In his own words: “The Transform Your Workplace podcast is your go-to source for the latest workplace trends, big ideas, and time-tested methods straight from the mouths of industry experts and respected thought-leaders.”
THE MISSING ELEMENT
When guest Bea Boccalandro was a little girl, her father used to encourage her to do her own thinking by speaking in parables or proverbs. One such statement that made a significant impact on her life was when he said, “You’re going to have to learn to listen beyond the clamor of your wants for the whisper of the world’s needs.”
In the last fifteen to twenty years, positive psychology has confirmed that Bea’s father’s words ring true in the workplace — that the most rewarding part of work is contributing to something bigger than yourself.
According to Bea, if you’re going to incorporate all of the elements that make work fulfilling and sustainable and fun, you can’t afford to neglect the element of contribution. You want your people to end their week knowing that their work mattered because they made a meaningful contribution to someone else or to a societal cause.
PODCAST EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS
What the Research Says
“We know from global research that only 15% of employees are highly engaged, and we know that if you’re not engaged, you’re not fulfilled. Then, you’re probably not satisfied with work either. And then there are surveys on whether people actually find their work meaningful, and […] the majority of employees say ‘no, my work is not fulfilling. It’s not meaningful. It’s a transaction so that I can have a life outside of work.’ That’s how work shows up for the majority of people — sadly, very sadly.”
Defining Terms
“Social purpose is any contribution to others or to a societal cause. So if you’re in healthcare, and your company is making respirators, then you’re like, ‘Well darn, we’re saving people’s lives.’ But most of us don’t. Our jobs don’t necessarily have a clear social purpose, but the reason I wrote the book is that it turns out that that is not much of a barrier to having a meaningful job.”
“There are people designing surfboards that found social purpose, and there are people who are in parking lots that figured out a way to have social purpose at work. So the surfboard designer thought, ‘Well, you know what? What if I put a sensor in the fin of the surfboard that relays information to scientists trying to save our ocean?’ Bingo. […] The parking lot attendant, his name is Leroy, realized, ‘Well, I see bald tires, and that’s really dangerous. And what if I just start alerting owners? You know, I just measure the tires really quickly.’ It takes him just a few seconds to tell them their tires are bald, and he’s gotten hugs from single mothers saying, ‘I had no idea that my three-year-old was in an unsafe vehicle.’ This is a practice that I’ve named Job Purposing. Listen beyond the clamor of your own needs […] for the whisper of the world’s needs.”
Three Buckets
“Edelman did some research that came out in late 2021 on the main reasons people leave [their jobs], and they put it in three buckets. One is compensation, perks, that sort of thing. The other is lifestyle — so ‘I don’t wanna commute,’ and things like that. And the third is purpose. Purpose is the number one reason people are leaving their jobs.”
Money Isn’t Everything
“We make decisions based on compensation. So we will take a job based on compensation. We’ll maybe extend our stay with an employer based on compensation. […] But the problem with compensation is that it can’t affect us deeply. It’s just skin deep, and so it doesn’t keep you at the job. And if you talk to HR people that focus on compensation, they will tell you that if we give someone a raise to have them stay, they will stay for three months but not longer. And it also won’t motivate you. So your engagement is not gonna go up. You might stay in a place to collect that paycheck, but your behavior is not going to be any more positive.”
What Moves the Needle
“There are three [motivators] in the mid-level. Those are passion, people, and progress. […] But the top motivator, the thing that gets people to increase performance by 171%, according to research done by Adam Grant, is social purpose. It’s contribution. It’s like this is gonna make a difference to someone, and this is gonna make a difference to a societal cause.”
Nonprofit vs. Corporate
“It’s so much so that nonprofit employees get paid between 8 and 40% less depending on what research you look at. They don’t have as many career options because nonprofits tend to be smaller — you know, they’re working on equipment that is like 30 years old. Their jobs on paper sound awful. And 85% of non-profit workers who came from the corporate sector — they only ask those who have done both — say, ‘I’ll never go back to the corporate sector,’ and it’s because their job matters.”
The Ripple Effect of Purpose
“If your job doesn’t improve the world, you’re undermining your health, your performance, your wellbeing, your happiness. So you owe it to yourself to improve your job. […] And we haven’t even talked about the performance benefits — so lots of studies here as well — 13% higher work satisfaction, 20% higher engagement at work, 24% higher productivity, 40% higher chances of getting a promotion. […] For organizations, we see the benefits of higher performance, higher engagement, organizational impact, and we haven’t even talked about recruitment and retention, which are huge as well.”
LEARN MORE
Get Bea’s book, Do Good at Work, on sale now, or check out this free article by Harvard Business Review, “Why Your Values Belong at Work.” Want more free resources to ignite your job with purpose? Head over to Bea’s website here where you can access the Purpose Generator Tool and get results in under 10 minutes.