Are your employees finding productive work at your company?

Research indicates that the primary driver of today’s high attrition rates is the growing disenchantment most employees feel toward work. Increasingly, work is seen as purposeless, having little value or meaning to employees. The push for greater efficiency and standardization has left many workers jaded, bored in their jobs, disconnected from coworkers, and not particularly loyal to their employers.

The failure of most employee retention strategies stems from a fundamental misunderstanding of what motivates most of us to work—namely, engagement in the work that we do (see Figure 1). Sure, we want the basics. We want to feel safe in the workplace, have the resources we need to be productive, be rewarded fairly, and have some flexibility in where, when, and how we do our jobs. But these are merely “qualifiers.” They can make the difference between employees being satisfied or dissatisfied, but they are not enough to create high levels of engagement, loyalty, and retention.

Inspiration - rank your employees on the following statements:

1) I am inspired by my job, where I find meaning and purpose in my work

2) I am inspired by the leaders in my company

Engaged - 'intrinsic motivators'

1) I have autonomy to do my job

2) I am a connected member of an extraordinary team

3) I am learning and growing every day

4) My work makes a difference and has an impact on the company

Satisfied - 'the qualifiers'

1) I have a safe work environment

2) I have the tools, training, and resources I need to do my job well

3) I can get my job done efficiently without excess bureaucracy

4) I am valued and rewarded fairly

At first glance, would your employees identify with any of these statements above?

Most companies are boosting pay, offering greater flexibility, and modifying other “qualifiers” to retain their best people. In most cases, these tactics haven’t done much to move the needle on worker attrition. Why? These moves are undifferentiated and easily matched. Any company can change its pay structure, work-from-home policies, and other qualifiers in response to tight labor markets. But so, too, can its competitors. Any gains are fleeting.

Here are a few tips that I would offer that can help you to secure your talent:

Make work interesting.?It is hard for employees to find purpose in their work if they are bored doing it. Employees need to devote most of their time to challenging and enjoyable elements of their jobs and as little time as possible to mundane tasks.

Connect jobs to the company’s mission.?To stick around, employees must believe that their jobs have purpose—that they are part of completing a worthwhile mission.

Build learning into work.?No one wants to feel that they are stagnating in their jobs. Most employees want the opportunity to learn and grow at work, every day. Employers need to build continuous learning and growth into every employee’s job.

These actions can go a long way in making work purposeful, resulting in higher levels of workforce productivity, more loyal employees, and much lower employee attrition.

Today’s satisfied—but unengaged—worker is someone else’s future employee. To remain committed to their employer, employees must believe that “my work has purpose and I find purpose in my work.” Companies should focus far less on providing more flexibility and better pay and benefits and, instead, turn their attention to improving the intrinsic value of work itself. If they do, they will discover that purposeful work is the new secret weapon in winning the war for talent.