As
organizations continue to adjust to a new era of work and manage the
uncertainty of a subsiding global pandemic and looming economic recession, what
employees want most: connection, community, and fulfillment. A sense of
community is more important now that employees are returning to the office and
searching for fulfillment and connection, but unfortunately, many
organizations’ current programs are failing to meet evolving employee desires.

O.C. Tanner
Institute collected and analyzed input from over 36,000 employees, leaders, and
practitioners from 20 countries and reports that:

Nearly 1 in 3 employees don’t feel fulfilled at work which
makes them:

• 399% more likely to actively look
  for another job
• 340% more likely to leave the
  organization within a year
• 47% less likely to put in a great
  deal of effort to help the organization succeed
• 71% less likely to promote the
  organization as a great place to work

Each year O.C.
Tanner measures changes in the six core elements of workplace culture that
together determine employee decisions to join, engage with, and remain at any
place of work. They call them Talent Magnets because of their power to attract
and connect people to their teams and organizations:

1. Purpose
An organization’s reason for being besides profits. It’s the difference it
makes in the world, why the company exists. Employees need to feel connected to
the purpose and understand how their job contributes to it. Once they do, their
work takes on meaning. Organizations should clearly articulate the connection
between work and purpose.

2. Opportunity
The chance to develop new skills, contribute to meaningful work, feel
challenged, have a voice, and grow. Opportunity is more than the lure of
promotions and pay increases. It’s about preparing and empowering employees to
make decisions, inviting them to the table, and offering them projects that
will expand their skills and relationships.

3. Success
The thrill of accomplishment, innovation, breaking barriers, playing on a
winning team, and experiencing victories. Employees must find success at the
individual, team, and organizational levels, and it should be nurtured and
publicly celebrated.

4. Appreciation
Feeling valued for one’s contributions and being recognized for one’s worth.
Appreciation is essential to employees—people need to know their leaders and
peers notice and are grateful for their efforts and contributions. Appreciation
is most effective when it’s delivered in timely, personal, and meaningful ways.

5. Wellbeing
Caring about the employee as a whole—their physical, emotional, social, and
financial health. Wellbeing ensures employees can be their strongest, most
capable, most authentic selves at work. A comprehensive approach to wellbeing
requires leaders to create an environment of inclusivity, work-life
integration, and connection.

6.
 Leadership
The mentoring, coaching, inspiring, and facilitating that allow individuals,
teams, and, ultimately, organizations to succeed. Great leaders co-create a
shared purpose for their teams and empower their employees to do great work. As
the most influential of the six Talent Magnets, leadership cultivates the other
five.

Successful
organizations are the ones reconnecting with their people by adopting a
community mindset where employees find meaning in their work, believe that they
belong, and experience greater personal fulfillment.