Let’s go on a little adventure …

An adventure to find our purpose! At work, that is.

If our 2023 Candidate Motivators Report showed us anything, it’s that we’re all lacking a little value in our professional lives (49% of respondents said a lack of purpose made them switch roles to a different employer).

If you want to find purpose in your work, it might be handy to understand what it is exactly you’re looking for?

So, what is purpose?

We like to think of it as that feeling of fulfilment you get when working on something you’re passionate about, that gets you excited to get up in the morning. Everyone finds purpose in different ways and in different places. When it comes to work, it might be getting to help people or being part of society’s advancement.

Sometimes purpose might not be so surface level and we might need to dig a little further to find that fulfilment, with a little help from our employers along the way.

Speaking of employers, ensuring your team can find value in their work will go a long way to keeping your top talent on board.

Before we begin …

We’re almost ready to begin our journey, but just before we do, we want to take a moment to understand why we’re doing this, why having purpose is so important.

Let’s start with some stats.

Research shows that employees that find a sense of purpose will not only be happier, more engaged and more productive, they also have a 46% reduced risk of mortality, 13% reduction in risk of sleep problems and 43% reduced risk of depression.

From an employer perspective, this translates to higher retention rates, stronger employee engagement and awesome company advocates.

Alright, let’s look at what steps you can take to uncover your purpose and how employers can play their part in empowering their employees to find their fulfilment.

Time to ask the tough questions

Finding your purpose at work starts with understanding your more overall life purpose. We know that sounds pretty big picture, but stick with us.

Life purpose is about understanding what mark you want to leave on this world. To get there, some people like to use what’s called the Ikigai model.

This model starts by getting you to ask yourself:

• What do I love doing?
• What am I good at?
• What does the world need?
• What can I get paid for?

Then it’s all about finding intersections - where does your passion and profession meet? If you value helping others, does your workplace offer the ability to work with your community? If you crave knowledge, can you access upskilling opportunities to increase your skills?

If you need some more questions to help nail down your niche, ask yourself:

• What are my strengths?
• What am I motivated by?
• What am I truly interested in?
• What are my unique and positive attributes?
• What do I value? 
• How do I get into a state of flow?

For the employers, there’s a few questions you can also ask yourself.

• Does your company have a purpose and do your C-level execs use that as a guide for making those difficult decisions?
• What does your company contribute to society?
• Do you give your employees time to reflect on their purpose with things like surveys, workshops and discussion sessions.
• Do your managers and leaders cultivate an understanding and open environment where employees feel comfortable to talk about and find their purpose?

Now to take action

So you’ve sat with yourself, answered the questions and now it’s time to take this knowledge and figure out how to make your work align with your new found purpose. Here’s a few things you can do:

• Phone a friend. Try speaking with friends and colleagues who are working in roles that align with your own strengths, interests and personal values.
• Look for potential opportunities within your current work environment that you might be able to explore and align with your sense of purpose.
• Get networking! Expand your circle and try meeting and connecting with people who are in roles that you feel align with what you love.

As an employer, the first thing that comes to mind might be to provide your employees with community outreach programs or even offering international experiences. While these can be great, the best type of fulfilment comes from the day-to-day, so how can you make your employees feel that sense of purpose on a daily basis? Ensuring employees have plenty of opportunity to discuss ideas with the higher ups and actually taking action on those ideas not only helps your team feel seen and heard, but also gives them fulfilment in seeing their thoughts become a reality and make a difference.

Make it count!

At the end of the day, the key to finding your purpose is to reflect on what you enjoy doing, your strengths, your personal values and find a way to bring that into your daily working life.

Employers, in today’s turbulent market, keeping a hold of top talent is crucial and allowing your employees to find and fulfil their purpose will go a long way to ensuring your turnover rates remain low.

The reality is most of us spend a majority of our lives working. Starting in our late teens or early 20s, most of us will be working eight hours a day, five days a week. This time is important - why not make it count!