Purpose in The Workplace

A recent survey ran on Blind, an anonymous professional network where users are verified by work email from companies like Amazon, EY, Bloomberg, and Cisco; states that 63% of professionals feel like their work is purposeful. There were over 5,600 responses from our users on Blind.

A purposeful career has a strong message of accountability. Professionals who feel the profound responsibility have a competitive advantage, where “in the future, greater transparency on questions of sustainability will be a persistently important component of every company’s ability to attract capital.” This concept, although novel, is groundbreaking for professionals in traditional private-sector jobs. 

Purpose-driven companies and professionals are particularly well-positioned to tackle the world’s biggest problems. Professionals can influence management and other critical stakeholders on the competitive advantages of being a purpose-driven company. These same professionals can be the change agents advocating on how to integrate values into daily work so that they can help transform companies into catalysts for system-level change. 

In January of 2018, Larry Fink, the CEO of Blackrock, sent out a letter to the CEOs of the companies in which Blackrock is invested. He said, in part: “Society is demanding that companies, both public and private, serve a social purpose. Without a sense of purpose, no company, either public or private, can achieve its full potential. It will ultimately lose the license to operate from key stakeholders. It will succumb to short-term pressures to distribute earnings, and, in the process, sacrifice investments in employee development, innovation, and capital expenditures that are necessary for long-term growth. It will remain exposed to activist campaigns that articulate a clearer goal, even if that goal serves only the shortest and narrowest of objectives. And ultimately, that company will provide subpar returns to the investors who depend on it to finance their retirement, home purchases, or higher education.”

A professional’s commitment to purpose leads to productivity and innovation that some of its leading competitors would have trouble imitating. Purpose at the heart of the brand cannot be mimicked, and it resonates with consumers. With the emerging trend of sustainability, ethics, and equality, the core of the company’s and how they recruit and operate is shifting. Purposeful work ultimately builds internal cooperation, helps people routinely work together, and grants companies long term growth.