For job seekers, meaning is as important as money

When it comes to retaining employees, money is key, but it isn’t enough by itself to retain workers, who were almost as likely to cite intangible factors related to meaning. Job fulfilment and the ability to be one’s true self at work were ranked second and third among employees considering a job change. Our analysis also broke out the cohort of employees who said they’re extremely or very likely to look for another job. Compared to employees extremely or very unlikely to look for another job, people in this cohort are less likely to:

• Find their job fulfilling (-14 percentage points)
• Feel they can be their true self at work (-11 percentage points)
• Feel fairly rewarded financially (-9 percentage points)
• Feel their team cares about them (-9 percentage points)
• Feel that their manager listens to them (-7 percentage points)

Managers who sense that these elements are at play—or even starting to emerge—must take steps to reshape the employee experience. Making jobs fulfilling requires deep empathy on the part of managers and the ability to translate the company’s overall purpose into specific actions and behaviours so that employees can see how their work contributes to that purpose.