In today’s corporate world, there is an ever growing opportunity to harness people power for good – for the benefit of the world and organisations alike. The war on talent continues, and both social and environmental issues also continue to rise and persist. So how might the corporate sector leverage this opportunity?

By enabling world-centric employees as an Employee Value Proposition.

Today’s competitive talent market is compelling organisations to think creatively about their Employee Value Propositions (EVPs). In particular, how they might best:

• Attract and retain talent.
• Generate meaningful work.
• Build a sense of belonging.

At the same time, people are actively seeking out more rewarding roles and employers who authentically care about our world and who are committed to social and environmental impact.

With these in mind, the corporate sector in particular finds itself with a unique opportunity to boost their EVP by enabling world-centric employees. The notion of creating space and inspiring employees to tackle our world’s most pressing issues. And there are many – from homelessness, poverty, housing and wealth inequity, climate change, to domestic violence and the plight of Indigenous people from around the world – just to name a few.

Who can world-centric employees be?

Every employee holds the potential to be a world-centric individual. Some will already be seeking out ways to contribute to something bigger than themselves, while others are yet to realise that they too can become world-centric. At the core of it, world-centric employees are humans who:

• Care about the world, its people and the environment
• Are conscious of the impact of their actions and decisions
• Are inspired to create social and/or environmental impact

This paper explores where this opportunity to harness people power as an EVP is stemming from, what the benefits are of enabling world-centric employees, as well as how organisations can go about doing so.

So where is this opportunity stemming from?

Incorporating a systems perspective, there are several drivers behind the opportunity to harness people power within organisations, in particular in the corporate sector, to tackle the world’s most pressing issues:

• From employees – people are wanting to add more meaning to their work lives, they want to feel like they are contributing to our future. Numerous studies have revealed that people are seeking out roles and organisations that provide these type of opportunities to do good. In fact, research has shown that Gen Z in particular demand more from employers (to not only live by their values, but to also offer value) and have high interests in rallying around causes that will benefit the greater good (CrowdDNA, 2018).
• From within organisations – talent teams are battling to hire and keep the best people; while learning and development teams look at immersive and innovative ways of building both high performance and connections to vision and strategies.
• From the social sector – there is a huge need for collaborators, investors and partners to propel not-for-profits and social enterprises forward.
  From the government sector – who seek innovators to help them find solutions.
• From the current state of our world – from the impacts of a pandemic and the resulting move to more hybrid ways of working, to the impacts of climate change, etc.

Purposefully and meaningfully creating these opportunities and connections with social and environmental causes for employees will generate multiple benefits for organisations, its people and the planet.

From an EVP perspective, what are the benefits of enabling world-centric employees?

Enabling employees to do good and contribute to making the world a better place allows people to feel good about themselves and their workplaces. It adds purpose and meaning to work. Research has shown that organisations that are socially responsible positively influence employee behavior and their sense of doing meaningful work (Alexander, 2015). Other research in Australia has shown that employees who see their employer as environmentally conscious were 25% more likely to consider their work meaningful than those who didn’t, and those who believed their organisation was committed to corporate social responsibility were 59% more likely to think their work was meaningful (Shafaei, et. al., 2020).

Enabling employees to focus on social and environmental causes also generates connectedness and a sense of belonging. These are powerful forces that strengthen engagement and pride in not only what people do, but for the organisation they work for. Research has shown that a sense of belonging increases job performance, reduces turnover and absenteeism (Carr et. Al., 2019).

Giving people the opportunity to find ways to make our world a better place fuels people’s souls, it captures their imagination and also:

• Enhances their connection to the organisation.
• Brings people together, fostering inclusion.
• Generates passion and a reason to give back.
• Encourages innovative thinking.
• Energises people around common good.

How can the corporate sector enable world-centric employees?

At the heart of it all, this is about inspiring employees to do good for our world and our planet, and consequently generating positive emotions in the workplace. It’s about shaping the human experience through connection, shared experiences and meaningful work.

To achieve this, there are a multitude of things employers can do and they don’t necessarily need to be big in scale. Tapping into altruistic motivation and inspiring people to take action either within or outside the workplace can take many forms. On a smaller scale, this might involve:

• Creating the space and opportunities for conversation and dialogue, without judgement, about issues that are important to employees.
• Exploring how the organisation impacts the local community and what role it can play to support community issues, events, etc.
• Seeking partnerships and building relationships with community leaders, local charities/not-for-profits/social enterprises.
• Looking for opportunities to leverage employee skills and capabilities, whether it be through mentoring, volunteering, secondments, projects and challenges.
• Creating a foundational level of knowledge across the organisation, aiming to build awareness about any given cause that is important to the organisation.

At a large scale, organisations can look at:

• Embedding social or environmental purpose into organisation wide strategies and/or develop specific social impact or ESG (Environmental,
• Social and Governance) strategies.
• Finding and communicating the linkage between an organisation’s mission and purpose with a social or environmental cause.
• Seeking ways to link organisation’s values and goals with the personal goals and values of individual employees.
• Building networks/alliances and launching longitudinal initiatives to address specific causes.

Organisational level approaches will generate meaning for employees and act as a compass for creativity, innovation and decision making. Linking smaller scale initiatives to organisational wide strategies can have an even bigger impact on employees.

The key is to ensure any initiative, no matter how big or small, is done authentically and regularly. Here are a number of other key considerations to explore:

• Determine the desired impact and implement measures of success to track progress and impact achieved. Celebrating progress is also imperative to continue building momentum.
• Align strategies, policies and systems to achieve impact areas.
• Focus on leadership development and strengthening emotional intelligence capability so that leaders can better understand their people and what drives them.
• Review the organisation’s culture and identify further opportunities for alignment.
• Seek input from employees from the outset, bring them along the journey.
• Empower people to drive change and initiatives.
• Look for opportunities where capabilities such as empathy, compassion and consciousness can be developed and strengthened. Building up the emotional intelligence of employees can have other positive impacts for both individuals and organisations.