The importance of Purpose to organisations
At school, I first got introduced to the term Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in my Economics and Geography lessons. At university, we were taught what historical and economic circumstances set off the concept of CSR, and how it is supposed to benefit a firm. After having spent four weeks at Edelman as an intern, CSR has shifted from a Yeti-like concept, where everyone has heard about it yet no one has seen it in action, to a tangible and real driver of organisational performance. Edelman has allowed me to apply previous learnt theories to everyday business tasks.
When I joined Edelman, I got assigned to the Sustainability practice. Words like ‘purpose’, ‘citizenship’, and ‘employee engagement’ were thrown around and, only partially because of my foreignness, I wasn’t quite sure I understood what was asked of me – Was I supposed to water the plants in the office energetically? However, I quickly learnt that every employee has every different motives for working. Despite differences in their priorities, what all these individuals have in common is passion, whether it is passion for the environment, the work itself, or financial results. However, a successful businessman will only truly stand out if he/she adds purpose to his/her passion. Since passion may seem like such an abstract concept in regards to financial results, it may be hard to see the correlation between the two. However, they could not be more interlinked.
What did I learn during the internship?
During my time here, I did a lot of research about the link between purposes and financial growth figures. The end result was pretty straight forward: Firms, which have employees who are passionate about something (whether that be protecting Pandas or making the workplace friendlier by giving employees birthday cookies), create a stronger relationship between employers and employees. This is also called employee engagement. High employee engagement reflects a high level of satisfaction amongst employees within an organization. As a result, engaged employees are more likely to increase their efforts at work, hence increasing the general business performance of the organisation. But how can a firm get employees involved and passionate about what they do?
This is where the concept of ‘Purpose’ sweeps in.
An employer must have a purpose behind everything he does, in order to truly engage with their employees and creates a productive working environment. For an employer to do so, she/he must identify what employees want.
Looking out of the window from the Hong Kong Edelman office, admiring the picturesque view of a concrete jungle, and smoggy air, as well as having researched what people in the Asia Pacific region seem to care about, it was clear that people are starting to realise that the Earth and the environment aren’t doormats we can rub our dirt on. How firms respond to the growing need of environmentally friendly behaviour is increasingly becoming a factor employees consider when deciding where to work and who to work for. In fact, in Hong Kong alone, 82% of millennials (Generation Y) deliberately seek an employer whose corporate responsibility behaviour reflects their own values. Furthermore, 20% of Hong Kong millennials (Generation Y) care about good reputation for ethical practices compared to 15% globally. Linking this back to employee engagement, firms are identifying a positive correlation between employee engagement and ethical organisational behaviour, especially when it is done with Purposes.
Once employees’ needs are identified, the organisation can implement programmes to increase the overall workplace satisfaction. Listening to what employees want and need are what gives an organisation Purpose and, ultimately, what makes an organisation stand out from its competitors and peers.
Although there’s still a lot I need to learn about this topic, doing research for the Sustainability team made me realise the importance of ethical behaviour in the workplace, not only from an environmental standpoint, but also the impact it has on the business results, the bottom-line of a company. Engagement caters to financial results and this correlation has been proven by many (latest Kenexa/IBM). Despite one’s initial impulse to focus on revenue and profits alone, it is becoming apparent that financial numbers alone are not the key to success. Just like Taylorism, it lacks the ‘human touch’. Without engagement, there is no profitable growth and, finally, no business success.
Interning at the HK Edelman office opened my eyes to the concept of purpose. Not only because of the research I did, but also because I witnessed true employee engagement by every employee at the office. Not only did I notice a very friendly atmosphere at the workplace, but also the commitment of each employee to the company and its values.
P.S. Special shout-out to my supervisor (wassup Steph) for being patient with me.
