With community and the sense of belonging more important than ever to us, it is a good time to remind ourselves of the values that are most important to us in our work. Do our values still align with our employer? Did we agree with the way that our employer has handled COVID, and their response to it?
When looking at work values and what employees’ value most, three buckets of motivators have been identified – career, community, and cause.
At the heart of intrinsic motivation is career – a role that allows you to use your strengths, promotes your learning and development and provides you with autonomy.
Community or “people” drives our sense of connection and belonging and is about feeling respected, cared about and recognised by others.
Cause or a sense of purpose is a source of pride. Feeling that you make a meaningful impact, believing that it does some good in the world and identifying with an organisation’s mission.
Without all three buckets, people become less satisfied, less committed and do not perform as well. With all three buckets fulfilled, they bring their whole selves to work and contribute wholeheartedly.
A report by Lori Goler (Head of People, Facebook), Janelle Gale (Head of HR Business Partners at Facebook), Brynn Harrington (People Growth team at Facebook) and Adam Grant (Professor at Wharton and the author of “The 3 Things employees Really want: Career, Community, Cause”, 20 February 2018) found that priorities were strikingly similar across all age groups.
Millennials, Baby Boomers and Gen-Xers all had the same core work values, and Millennials want essentially the same things as the rest of us.
Interestingly they found that the only group who care significantly more about cause than about career and community are people aged 55 and above (those around mid-life become more concerned about contributing to society and less focused on individual career enhancement.) Go baby-boomers!
And career, community and cause are prized around the Globe. With the current pandemic, we have seen a lot of people focused, especially on community. Unfortunately, not all companies seem to reflect this, as they have reacted in a panicked and extremely defensive way to current events. For people on the fence about their companies’ support for these three buckets, COVID has been a tipping point in whether or not they are ready to move on to a new role.
So, when you are next considering what is important to you when analysing an opportunity, or where to turn for your next career move, consider the career, community and cause of the role and employer you are considering. If you get it right, chances are you will have made the right move. The consultants at Burgess Paluch Legal Recruitment have an in depth knowledge about what law firms offer in terms of career, community, and cause. If you are thinking about making a move, or would like to discuss the market, contact one of our consultants, to give yourself the best chance at finding a job that is the right fit for you.