Find More Meaning at Work: 4 Research Backed Tips

Engaging and Retaining Top Talent Is an Ongoing Battle
As organizations strive to maintain a competitive edge, an increasing number of employees report feeling adrift, disconnected from a sense of purpose in their work. Our annual Best Places to Work engagement surveys consistently highlight this trend. The question for leaders is clear: how can they help employees find more meaning at work?

The Role of Meaning at Work
The phrase “more meaningful work” might sound like another HR buzzword — but it is anything but superficial. Employees require more than competitive pay and benefits to remain truly engaged. Research consistently shows that monetary rewards have the lowest correlation with engagement and retention. In fact, more than 500,000 employees surveyed annually report that pay ranks lowest among factors that keep them motivated. When asked why they stay at their organization, the top response — according to the WorkHuman Research Institute — was: “I find the work meaningful.”

The evidence is clear: employees who perceive purpose in their work are more engaged, more productive, and more committed to their teams. They contribute more innovative ideas, collaborate effectively, and consistently go above and beyond. Yet many organizations struggle to connect employees to the larger strategic purpose. Even when leaders communicate the company’s mission and strategy, the message often fails to resonate.

Key findings from our corporate culture assessments reveal persistent gaps:

• Fewer than 50% of employees clearly understand their organization’s strategy and purpose
• Nearly 75% of employees are not genuinely enthusiastic about their work
• Over one-third of leadership teams lack alignment on their own strategic priorities

These statistics illustrate a critical disconnect: if leaders fail to create a work environment where purpose is tangible and relatable, engagement suffers — and top talent drifts away.

What’s the Missing Link?
How can leaders more effectively communicate corporate strategy and purpose to employees? The answer is straightforward: employees struggle to find meaning at work because they do not feel personally connected to it.

When the line of sight between an employee’s day-to-day tasks and the organization’s broader mission is weak, engagement and connection inevitably suffer. Without that clear connection, work becomes transactional, purpose fades, and motivation diminishes.

Four Steps to Help Employees Find More Meaning at Work

1. Focus on Customers
   Who you work with — and how you work with them — matters just as much as what you do. The closer your employees are to your customers, the stronger their sense of connection and purpose. Encourage employees to build authentic relationships with customers, meet them in person whenever possible, and invest in their long-term success.

   Customer-centric cultures create meaning by giving employees the autonomy to understand their customers deeply — both professionally and personally — anticipate emerging needs, and incorporate feedback into ongoing improvements. The greater the freedom employees have to align their work with personal purpose and impact, the more engaged and committed they become.

2. Make the Impact on Customers Visible
   Give employees the chance to see firsthand how their work affects customers, their teams, and the organization. Start by helping them understand who benefits from their contributions and why their work matters. Then, whenever possible, connect their efforts to a broader purpose or cause.

   You’ll know you’re on the right track when employees feel that showing up each day truly makes a difference.

   One client achieved remarkable results by instituting on-site customer visits for all employees. Not only did this help employees see the tangible impact of their work, but it also deepened their understanding of different roles, sparked ideas for improvement, and strengthened cross-functional collaboration.

3. Recognize Great Work
   Our engagement research consistently shows a direct link between recognition and meaningful work. Employees who received recent recognition reported nearly 30% higher levels of perceived meaning compared to those who went unacknowledged. Simply put, when employees feel noticed and appreciated, their work gains significance.

   However, extrinsic recognition has a limited shelf life. Sustained high performance stems from intrinsic motivation — employees performing because they genuinely want to, not because they have to. Meaningful work is the engine of this motivation, giving employees a deeper reason to invest their energy, creativity, and commitment every day.

4. Reinforce the Organization’s Higher Purpose
   More leaders recognize the value of a higher purpose at work, yet few fully integrate purpose and meaning into how work is executed or how decisions are made. The most effective way to connect employees to a company’s larger vision is to actively involve them in defining the organization’s raison d’être. When employees truly believe their work matters, motivation and commitment naturally rise.

   While higher purpose is obvious in sectors like biotech, healthcare, and nonprofits, it can be harder to articulate in other industries. Yet purpose can be found everywhere: a car manufacturer helping people reach where they want to go; a watchmaker enabling better life balance; or Patagonia striving to deliver exceptional products without unnecessary environmental harm. When employees see the broader impact of their work, even everyday tasks gain meaning.

The Bottom Line
Meaning and performance go hand in hand. Employees want their work to matter, and leaders want their teams to make a tangible impact. While you cannot dictate what holds significance for each individual, you can cultivate a high performing culture that helps employees discover purpose in their work — an environment where connection, impact, and autonomy come together to drive engagement, motivation, and results.

To learn more about how to help employees find more meaning at work, download Employee Engagement Mistakes: Are You Aimlessly Engaging Your Employees?