While competitive pay and generous perks are key to employee satisfaction and retention, a new global study by Weber Shandwick management consultancy United Minds and KRC Research reveals that the ability to make a meaningful contribution to the job is just as important. Dubbed "The Contribution Effect," the study reveals that while employees want to retain the agency and flexibility they gained during the pandemic, feeling appreciated and motivated for their contributions are two of the top three predictors of retention and satisfaction today (the top predictor being working in a positive environment).    

“Given our collective new ‘workplace normal,’ we set out to assess the key drivers of employee satisfaction, retention, and advocacy amid today’s unprecedented war for talent. We talked to nearly 2,800 office-based, front-line, and trade/manufacturing employees in seven countries, and discovered that across this diverse sample, a strong employee experience rests on opportunities for workers to do valued, fulfilling work,” Kate Bullinger, CEO of United Minds, said in a statement.

The Contribution Effect and Employee Retention

While flexible work and innovative benefits are dominating the conversation about how to retain talent as companies navigate the Great Resignation, that’s not the only discussion companies should be having. 

Ziad Hasbani, CEO of Weber Shandwick MENAT, says these themes can be observed in the Middle East too.  “Employees want a culture that is safe, inclusive, and flexible, along with a fair deal when it comes to remuneration, benefits, and an opportunity to make meaningful contributions in their professional lives. The great challenge for companies today is building a loyal workforce that can sustainably thrive, through a re-imagined employee experience and strong employer relationship.”

In "The Contribution Effect," United Minds considered employee experience (EX) from two perspectives: stated importance and derived importance. Stated importance addresses what employees say is most important to them in an ideal job – what is top of mind and often discussed at the negotiation table. Derived importance gets under the hood using correlation analysis to understand how well each of the 79 factors determines what actually drives satisfaction, advocacy, and retention.

In evaluating EX in this manner, four key findings emerged, which collectively form a comprehensive picture of the mutual contributions necessary for shaping a best-in-class employee experience. Furthermore, they provide a roadmap for executives seeking to evolve and elevate their employee experience.

Pillar 1 – What’s non-negotiable: Fairness and safety

Employees expect to be treated fairly, feel supported, secure, and included regardless of role or background. Getting a “fair deal” at and from work is more than pay equity and job security. Yet, there’s a troubling threat to fairness. According to the research, one in three employees report experiencing unfair treatment, including discrimination and harassment at work – and unfair treatment represents the single largest negative influence on EX. At the top of the list of those reporting unfair treatment are people who are non-white, ages 18-34, and cultural/religious minorities – with top reasons being age (35%) and sex (22%).  

Pillar 2 – What I give: Employee contributions are as important as company benefits

Feeling valued for purposeful contributions is a strong predictor of employee satisfaction, which means getting this driver right is especially important. Simply put, people want to do good, purposeful work and in turn, get recognized for it.

Among the findings, 70% of employees who report feeling motivated are also satisfied with their jobs, versus 6% who are not. Yet, three in ten employees (30%) are not energized to do their best work.

Pillar 3 – What I get: Employees appreciate agency and balance

The ability to work remotely does not rank highly in the factors that truly drive retention (#58 out of the 79 factors). What does rank highly is achieving work/life balance (#5), indicating that flexibility is important but only as a driver of true balance.

“What matters in the long term is what workplace flexibility symbolizes. Giving people the autonomy to self-manage demonstrates trust and confidence – and it conveys a willingness to listen and to meet employees where they are,” said Stephen Duncan, Executive Vice President EMEA at United Minds.

Pillar 4 – What we create together: Employees seek meaningful fun

Having a positive work environment and a fun place to work rank number one and four, respectively, out of the 79 factors driving derived satisfaction. More notably, employees who consider their work environment to be positive are more than 7X more likely to stay, while employees who experience fun at work are more than 5X more likely to perceive their organization as among the best.

In this instance, fun and positivity are about getting people immersed in solving problems that are original, hard, and important. It’s about creating deeper affinity to peers – and ultimately, to the employer.

Contribution quotient scores organisational EX and shows leaders fare better than others    

To assess the degree to which an organization is offering a superior employee experience, United Minds and KRC Research created a contribution quotient (CQ) score that analyzes performance across all four pillars above to assign an overall rating. The higher the CQ, the more likely an organization's employees will stay, advocate for the company, and feel satisfied.

The average CQ across organizations in the study is 72 (out of 100), with only 17% of the data set achieving an “excellent” score of 90 CQ or above.

Leaders fare better than individual contributors, with a 76 CQ compared to 70 CQ, respectively. From an industry sector perspective, professional services outperform all others at a 75 CQ.

Harassment and discrimination create the greatest divergence, with a 16-point CQ reduction from those who have experienced unfair treatment versus those who are treated fairly.

United Minds launches nexus model & employee survey

Aligned with the key findings in "The Contribution Effect," United Minds developed a universal, predictive EX model – nexus – that can predict over 50% of an employee’s experience, regardless of geography, job type, or level. Using the nexus diagnostic, United Minds can either issue a 10-minute employee survey or work with client data to compare their EX performance against the benchmark data.

United Minds’ employee experience, culture, and engagement advisors use tools like nexus to counsel dozens of Fortune 500 and other large organizations on best practices for building stronger workforces.

“Our first-of-its-kind, predictive model provides a framework for any organization to better understand how their current EX impacts retention and advocacy – and how it can be improved,” Duncan said.

For more information on the model or research, visit https://unitedmindsglobal.com/