In September 2019, Workhuman® Analytics & Research Institute published a study revealing that employees across all age groups consider meaningful work as the most important aspect of their job. Meaningful work is more important than positive company culture, a supportive manager, and even compensation. The survey found that employees were four times more likely to report loving their job when they had a sense of meaning and purpose at work.

Meaningful work connects the day-to-day responsibilities with a greater company mission that is aligned with the individuals’ personal values, creating a shared purpose between an employer and employees. Meaningful work formed on trust, respect, recognition, gratitude, autonomy and equity creates a human-focused environment that improves engagement, retention, recruitment, and performance. A particularly astute finding from the study showed that “the higher up a person goes in their organization, the more important meaningful work becomes on average.”

Today, more than ever, companies need to focus on their employees’ core human needs and inspire meaningful work through ongoing recognition, respect, and empowerment. In such unsettling times, employees are seeking an emotional connection to their work and their company’s mission. It does not cost organizations any money to make their employees feel recognized and respected.

When companies face challenging times, market pressures, and uncertainty, stress is inevitable throughout an organization. Studies have shown that gratitude is a critical element in building resilience and reducing stress. Higher gratitude levels are typically associated with frequent and regular recognition.

Organizations with the best work environments focus on providing people with life satisfaction rather than job satisfaction. Duane Hixon, CEO of N2 Publishing, said: “Profit is necessary, but it is not the goal. We need air and water to survive, but that isn’t our purpose. Our purpose is to help people live better lives.”

The end goal of any company should be to create work cultures that are mutually beneficial to organizations and people who work there. Companies that succeed at achieving that goal, similar to N2 Publishing, help their employees identify the areas of work that provide team members with the greatest fulfillment. Leaders encourage employees to self-examine their interests and find where they excel. As a result, individuals feel happy and even lucky to work at those organizations while companies experience higher productivity and improved performance.

One of the best ways to help people grow and innovate is to empower them to take ownership of their work. When employees think and act like owners, control many aspects of their work, have the leeway to rearrange, modify, and improve their assignments, their mindsets start to change from what cannot be done to what can. They become innovative and push their companies forward.

Another facet of creating a human-focused environment is allowing employees to be authentic at their jobs, enabling them to express who they are and what they stand for in life. A study that analyzed the best companies to work for found that when people behave in alignment with their values, they have stronger work ethics. “They are more morally engaged, less deferent to circumstance, and will choose principle over the enticement.”

While most media coverage talks about the “future of work” in terms of AI taking away jobs, the newly popular topic of remote work, and the looming skills gap, organizations have an opportunity to leverage the untapped creativity and innovation of people and to prioritize humanity and meaningful work.