A first-of-its-kind diagnostic tool is helping companies ensure their purpose supports outcomes including talent attraction and retention, employee engagement, and performance.
If you spend any time on social media, you’ve probably seen the memes about
companies offering their burned-out workers a pizza party. The employees feign
joy — as if a few free slices and sodas will make up for long hours, muddled
communication, disengaged leadership or having to commute to the office. What
employees really want is good compensation; and then, work-life
balance.
And they also want to feel a sense of purpose at
work
— whether that’s a personal purpose or being able to say they work for a company
that makes the world a better place.
This should come as no surprise to any C-suite or HR leader attuned to the
latest research on corporate purpose. Only 7 percent
of
Fortune
500
CEOs
today believe their companies should “mainly focus on making profits and not be
distracted by social goals.” Over the past several years, scores of companies
have invested heavily in developing and activating a purpose beyond profits.
We’ve proudly helped companies ranging from Campbell Soup Company to Quest
Diagnostics do just that. Any wise investment needs to be measured and
adjusted over time, though; and until recently, there has been no quantifiable
way to measure the impact of purpose on a company’s workforce.
Meet EPiQ, or Employee Purpose iQ. We
developed this diagnostic tool with our partners at The Harris Poll after
releasing our Purpose Under Pressure
report
last year. From that research, we learned that 90 percent of employees say
purpose helps them feel like they’re in the right place during turbulent times;
and 84 percent said they will only work at a purpose-driven company. Purpose
Under Pressure also showed that purpose is often implemented inconsistently and
not deployed in key functional areas. EPiQ helps organizations identify such
gaps, while illuminating areas of strength to build upon to ultimately ensure
purpose produces returns across the enterprise.
To lay the groundwork for EPiQ — and set a foundation for companies to benchmark
against — the Harris Poll team conducted The Harris Poll/Cone Employee Purpose
Engagement Survey. We learned that 68 percent of US employees believe it
is not enough for companies to just provide quality products and services; they
have a responsibility to have a positive impact on society — including
employees, customers, communities and the environment. Yet, of the 1,500
respondents, just half believe their employers care about anything more than
making a profit.
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This research highlights gaps in how employees experience their employers’
purpose initiatives, which should send a strong signal to business leaders that
they are losing considerable value by not fully optimizing their purpose. For
example, companies whose employees feel “a sense of purpose at work and believe
their leaders set clear direction” outperform the stock market by nearly 7
percent, according to Great Place to
Work.
Further, purpose-driven companies see retention rates 40 percent higher than
other companies, according to
Deloitte.
EPiQ’s outputs include a detailed dashboard displaying where purpose is
performing or falling short. Based on each company’s own segmentation, the
dashboard can examine purpose by factors such as role, generation, hybrid/remote
status, geography and more. Normative data shows companies how they perform
compared to competitors or peers, as well as other industries. All this is
delivered in a brief, C-suite-ready presentation, supplemented by high-level
recommendations based on our team’s decades of experience in developing,
activating and evolving purpose, ESG and employee initiatives.
Ultimately, EPiQ helps companies understand the impact of their investments in
purpose related to leadership trust, talent attraction and retention, belonging,
performance and influence on decision-making. With this critical baseline, HR
and people leaders can understand opportunities for deeper education and
behavior change. Wisely evolving purpose to meet the needs of employees can make
employees happier, more engaged, and boost performance — all without a single
slice of pizza.
Published Jun 6, 2023 11am EDT / 8am PDT / 4pm BST / 5pm CEST
CEO
Carol is internationally recognized for her work in Purpose and CSR. Carol Cone ON PURPOSE is the return to her entrepreneurial roots and life’s passion: to educate, inspire and accelerate purpose programs and impacts for organizations, nonprofits and individuals around the globe.