The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the workplace for the foreseeable future. Employers have had to mitigate employee discontent and transitions, including the Great Resignation, the Great Reshuffle, quiet quitting, and more.

And while organizations have evolved to accommodate worker preferences, companies must continue to refine their benefits and cultures to attract and retain the best talent. Today’s employees want to feel a greater sense of purpose at work, and companies must respond by clearly defining their missions and values and incorporating them into the day-to-day environment.

Discover methods to align your organization’s vision and values to help attract talent, increase loyalty, and deliver purpose.

Changing Attitudes Toward Work

While employees still want to be compensated well for their work, they also want their work lives to better align with their home lives and personal values.

According to Meredith Fish, vice president of people and culture at WorkRamp, “priorities have shifted since the pandemic and employees are prioritizing work/life integration, personal growth, and community involvement more than ever before. It’s imperative that organizations align their missions and values to what resonates with the workforce. If they don’t, they will lose buy-in, discretionary effort, and loyalty.”

Responses from a 2021 Gartner survey about how the pandemic influenced thinking about work revealed:

• 65 percent: Shifted attitudes about the value of life aspects outside of work

• 65 percent: Prompted them to rethink the place that work should have in their lives

• 56 percent: Made them want to contribute more to society

• 52 percent: Had them question the purpose of their day-to-day job

• 50 percent: Changed expectations of their employer

With more flexibility and remote work options, employees have more factors to consider when deciding whether to stay at a current job or find a new one.

While compensation remains a leading factor for current and prospective employees, individuals also care about the work environment, relationships with colleagues and managers, and company alignment with personal goals and values.

How to Align Company and Employee Values

Define Your Mission and Values

You can’t promote your values if they aren’t clearly defined. Start from the top with the founders and leaders. Define your company mission and ensure that current and prospective employees know what the organization stands for.

Your values aren’t just a mission statement you post in the office; they must be built into your organization’s framework and influence day-to-day actions, employee relationships, decision-making, and more.

“At WorkRamp, we are focused on building and contributing a positive team culture,” Ted Blosser, WorkRamp’s CEO and co-founder says. “We know we can only win if the entire team does. We bake this idea into our day-to-day operations to encourage collaboration and continuous learning and improvement. We also promote diversity, equity, and inclusiveness so employees can bring their whole selves to work and ensure WorkRamp is an amazing place to work for every type of individual.”

Incorporate Employees Into Your Mission and Purpose

Once team members understand your company’s mission, they need to assess how they fit into the bigger picture. How do their job responsibilities ladder up to the organization’s success?

Show employees they are valued members of the team, beyond performance metrics.

A BetterUp study found that job performance increased by 56 percent when employees felt a sense of belonging at work.

You can promote a sense of belonging by:

• Expressing public appreciation for workers' contributions. Recognize employees for a job well done via email, in all-hands meetings, or on communication platforms like Slack and Teams.

• Prioritizing Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEI&B). Promoting DEI&B can help create a culture of engaged, happy employees and a diverse workforce where employees can be themselves.

• Encouraging employee feedback. Give employees a chance to provide feedback on workplace decisions and processes and demonstrate how you will use the feedback to make improvements.

Determine Career Paths and Goals

While more employees are now concerned with their workplaces aligning with other aspects of life, it’s still essential to offer opportunities for career development. According to a 2021 ClearCompany report, 94 percent of employees say they’d stay at a company longer if their employer invested in their careers.

Employee career pathing should be an ongoing process that begins with onboarding. Managers can ask new team members about their career goals and help them create a plan to obtain the necessary skills and resources to accomplish them. Managers also can provide resources to help employees upskill and reskill, including instructor-led and on-demand training, videos and webinars, mentorship and coaching, and more.

But it doesn’t stop there. Managers and direct reports should revisit these career plans periodically to track progress. Remember, employee goals may change over time so career paths may need to be adjusted to accommodate changing goals or priorities.

Promote Work-Life Balance

With the post-pandemic shift in attitudes toward work, it’s more important than ever to help employees attain work-life balance. To feel engaged at work, team members must be able to pursue their personal endeavors as well.

“Essentially, what we have seen is that people are more invested in their communities and family and friends since the pandemic and are looking for companies that align with that. Companies who come across as ‘too corporate’ are losing mindshare,” shares Meredith Fish.

When possible, help employees find a work-life balance by:

• Offering flexible hours or remote or hybrid working options

• Providing a generous PTO package

• Offering additional days off like self-care or mental health days

For example, Gong gives employees a recharge day at the end of each quarter. All team members get a four-day weekend to unplug and recharge.

Invest in Your Employees

Taking a vested interest in your team members’ values, goals, and development will help you attract and retain high-performing, loyal employees. Happy, engaged employees perform better in their roles and are poised to succeed in future endeavors.

WorkRamp is an all-in-one learning platform that can help you create a culture of learning at your organization.

Learn more about how you can use WorkRamp to create effective talent development programs. Contact us to schedule a free, personalized demo.