The word is out: Employees today, especially those in younger generations, are seeking a greater sense of personal fulfillment out of work than their parents or grandparents did. Where older generations worked simply to survive or take pride in the mastery of a craft, those in the newer waves of workforce entrants want to feel a sense of purpose at their jobs.

According to Smiti Bhatt Deorah, co-founder and chief operating officer of Advantage Club, an employee engagement, rewards and community building platform, organizational leaders can generate a more fulfilling work experience for employees by building strong relationships, as well as showing respect, gratification and recognition.

“Today’s Millennial and Gen-Z employees do not want to work just for salaries; they want to be acknowledged,” Bhatt Deorah said. “They want to be recognized for whatever challenges they’re facing and whatever challenges they are overcoming.”

Her remarks were made during From Day One's March Virtual conference in a thought leadership spotlight titled, “Designing Recognition Programs That Promote a Sense of Purpose.” She not only outlined why people leaders and those in c-suites should foster a sense of fulfillment in their employees, but also tips on how to carry out such a mission.

The first step, she said, is to build an employee rewards and recognition program. Its foundation should be laid with assessments of employee needs and strategies on how the company can align with them (if it isn’t already).

“Second, be relevant to those needs,” Bhatt Deorah said. “Don’t just build a recognition program because everyone else is designing one. It needs to be relevant to your core company values, to your organization, to what your employees want, and their needs specifically.”

Such data will help to empower managers in their efforts to build a company culture reflective of those values and its dedication to employee fulfillment. That culture should include an element of workforce-wide recognition.

“Lastly, you review, again and again,” Bhatt Deorah said. “You revise and you renew your policies, based on constant feedback and constant results, which you identify.”

To get a sense of what employees’ needs are, Bhatt Deorah advised people leaders and other stakeholders to inquire about their morale (the extent to which they enjoy the work that they do), the presence and fairness of a system that provides recognition and rewards for work achievements, if they feel like they belong, whether or not they take pride in their job, find it interesting or stimulating, or if it makes them just feel good about themselves.

Once data on these areas is acquired—perhaps through surveys, engagement with ERGs or other means—a company culture that nurtures worker fulfillment and sense of purpose can be built, alongside a recognition and rewards program offering a tangible manifestation of that goal.

But another challenge is the emergence of the hybrid work environment. Bhatt Deorah said company leaders simply have to adjust to the changing conditions, mindful that all their employees have needs. 

With the presence of remote workers, “You need to digitize your entire recognition program in a tool or any sort of internal platform, or you can partner with platforms out there,” said Bhatt Deorah. “Second, you need to replace all your physical gifts to virtual currency. It could be reward points, it could be vouchers, it could be e-gift cards, it could be anything. You have to replace your physical awards with e-badges, physical certificates with e-certificates, which can be safely delivered over email or printed out.”

Automation can help in recognizing work anniversaries and birthdays of employees, especially in a large corporate setting, she said. Incentive-based awards’ processing, like in the sales industry, for another example, can also more easily be dispensed with automated tools. 

And once the R&R program is established, make it a “holistic” one, Bhatt Deorah said. There should be recognition and rewards for some day-to-day goals. Approbation should be carried out in both formal and informal ways, and employees could even have a say in what the program looks like. 

Organizations must also recognize their programs’ efficacy. 

“The simplest way of doing that is by identifying data within your recognition programs,” Bhatt Deorah said. “Your budget utilization rates need to be a minimum of 95%; your redemption rates need to be a minimum of 90%. Below that, nothing should be acceptable. You can also look at attendance absentee rates, whether they have declined since you’ve deployed your recognition programs.”

Employee satisfaction surveys should also include questions about the R&R programs, and HR leaders might also want to look at attrition and retention rates and figure out how the R&R programs have had an impact. Then, of course, analysis of performance rates, before and after the rolling out of R&R programs, or changes within them, can also be done.

Going through these processes will help business leaders show employees they want to establish a corporate culture where everyone has a chance to feel fulfilled by the work they do, and wake up everyday with a sense of purpose. In other words, leaders will have better luck “winning the workplace,” which as Bhatt Deorah said, while quoting renowned business-focused speaker Doug Conant, is the best way for them to “win the marketplace.”

Editor's note: From Day One thanks our partner, Advantage Club, who sponsored this thought leadership spotlight.

Michael Stahl is a New York City-based freelance journalist, writer, and editor. You can read more of his work at MichaelStahlWrites.com, follow him on Twitter @MichaelRStahl, and order his first book, the autobiography of Major League Baseball pitcher Bartolo Colón, at Abrams Books.