The way people think about work is changing, and this is good news for business leaders if they understand and embrace the change - but most aren't doing so.
According to Gallup, Europe has the lowest levels of employee engagement worldwide, and within Europe, the UK sits just six places from the bottom at 33 out of 38 countries - ouch!
However, this data is not a reflection of British people's hate for work, but a reflection of how employees' mindsets are changing, while businesses aren't keeping up.
Recent data has shown that:
Two-thirds of employees would accept a pay cut for better work-life balance (Hays).
75% of employees would take a pay cut to work somewhere aligned with their values (LinkedIn).
82% of employees say it's important that their company has a purpose (McKinsey).
70% of employees find their personal sense of purpose through work (McKinsey).
Throughout history, pay has been the main bargaining chip for businesses to attract and retain people, which is a problem for many businesses and industries where high salaries aren't an option. However, today, as the data shows, pay is becoming less important (but still is) to ideal employees.
Today, the employee mindset is rapidly shifting away from being purely driven by money and towards being driven by meaning, purpose, and supporting a healthy lifestyle. Today, your ideal employees are looking for an awesome place to work.
This is great news for you for two reasons:
Regardless of your size or industry, you can become an awesome, purpose-driven place to work.
Most businesses aren't onto this yet, so it's easy for you to stand out, attract, and retain the best people.
When you become an awesome place to work, everything improves. Leaders and managers are aligned and work collaboratively, reducing stress and improving growth. Teams are engaged, boosting innovation and energy into your business, so it can be agile. Retention and productivity go up, so customers get a fantastic service/product, and profits go up.
The secret to this is the feel of work. If your business has a product or service that benefits people's lives, clients, and team, it has everything it needs to be an awesome place to work.
Commit to being an awesome place to work, and you'll go from feeling like it's an uphill battle to a challenging but rewarding team journey.
The first step towards being a great place to work and creating meaningful work is having a clear strategy (Vision and mission).
If you haven't already established your strategy, or if you want to assess what you currently have in place, download our free Step by Step Strategy pack to develop and stress test your approach.
AUTHOR
Mike Jones Better Happy Founder
Mike founded Better Happy in 2018.
He now works with a variety of businesses ranging from small accountancies up to large organisations such as Travelodge on improving employee happiness. Mike's vision and the vision of Better Happy is 'Every employee happy, every business thriving'