Companies that create a meaningful work environment for their workers are also creating something else – a way to grow faster by attracting and keeping top talent.
Top executives agree. For instance, Jeff Aronin, Chairman and CEO of Paragon Biosciences, believes that delivering meaningful work starts with the mission and purpose of a company. “The best advice I’ve received — and now pass along as a mentor — is to build companies of meaning,” says Aronin, who as built three successful life sciences companies over the past 20 years.
The key, Aronin says, is to create an environment for “purpose-driven experts.” This commitment, Aronin says, has enabled Paragon Biosciences to successfully recruit highly successful teams focused on patients with high, unmet medical need.
Recent studies indicate a crisis in workplace meaning. In 2018 research, leadership training company BetterUp says that on average, employees say their work is about half as meaningful as it could be. And according to a Gallup poll, only “about 1 in 8 workers” were “psychologically committed to their jobs and likely to be making positive contributions to their organizations.”
However, companies that deliver meaning at work suffer less workforce disruption with the chance for faster growth and innovation. BetterUp says employees who find their work highly meaningful stay at their current job an average of 7.4 months longer than workers who don’t. For managers, BetterUp says supervisors doing meaningful work leave their jobs at only half the national turnover rate, creating better leadership structures.
In short, dedicated, focused employees can help companies grow. Professional services giant KPMG reports that 58% of companies with “a clearly articulated and understood purpose” had a growth rate of 10% over a three-year period.
Leading observers think workplace meaning is a universal need. At a 2016 Aspen Institute Ideas Festival, New York Times columnist David Brooks stressed that meaningful work is important for everyone, not just business leaders. Said the columnist, “There is no income level at which people are not desperate for meaning.”
FInd your purpose – motivational phrase in vintage letterpress wood type blocks stained by color inks
What does meaningful work…mean?
According to BetterUp, workers rank personal growth as the biggest contributor to workplace meaning. Other drivers include professional growth, such as the availability of training and advancement, a shared purpose within the organization, and being able to do work that helps others. Camaraderie and other signs of “strong social support” can create an environment of shared purpose that’s important to workplace meaning, said BetterUp.
At Jeff Aronin’s Paragon Biosciences, shared purpose is fully embraced. Aronin explains that his company’s mission requires employees with advanced skills and sincere dedication who are “deeply committed to developing treatments for otherwise underserved patient populations.”
Aronin adds, “To persevere through challenges, you have to believe that you’re doing something that matters.”
Creating a sense of meaning within the organization has helped Paragon Biosciences grow. The organization has launched seven portfolio companies in just two years focused on biopharmaceuticals and advanced life sciences technologies. In 2019 alone, these companies have produced significant milestones including a first-ever FDA drug approval for excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) in adult patients with narcolepsy, clinical advancements in Tourette syndrome and stuttering, and further advancement of the first FDA-cleared, artificial intelligence enabled breast cancer system for radiology.