The working world is in the midst of a massive tug-of-war that’s truly hard to watch. On one side, you have employees who have been through the wringer. They’ve endured the chaos and trauma of a global pandemic, all while watching their paychecks stagnate as the cost of just about everything skyrockets. It’s no wonder that many are stepping back and seriously reassessing what they want and need from their jobs.
On the other hand, you’ve got a corporate establishment that seems to want to rewind the clock. The ongoing debate over return-to-office policies reflects the complex push-pull between the business’s needs and workers’ evolving expectations.
To make matters worse, the job market right now means many employers have the upper hand. Lots of industries have more eager applicants than open positions. But just because the current job market gives employers more leverage doesn’t mean they should use it to turn back the clock on workplace progress. The pandemic didn’t just shake up our day-to-day routines – it shone a glaring spotlight on the parts of work culture that were already broken. Stagnant wages, burnout, lack of work-life balance, feeling like just another cog in the machine – these issues were simmering long before COVID-19 uprooted our lives.
So with all this bubbling tension as a backdrop, I wanted to dig a little deeper into what exactly workers value most these days. I ran a survey asking people to rank four key aspects of workplace culture from least to most important: a sense of purpose/mission, growth opportunities, flexibility/work-life balance, and collaborative team environment. The results tell a pretty clear story about where people’s heads are at.
A full 37% of respondents said that a sense of purpose and mission was the least important factor to them. Another 37% ranked a collaborative team environment as the least important. Growth opportunities came in third at 17%, while work-life balance and flexibility were deemed least important by only 9% (which, by default, makes it most important. It’s a little confusing – I know).
As I dug into the survey results, I couldn’t help but notice how they aligned with Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. For the uninitiated, it’s basically a pyramid that ranks human needs from the most basic and essential at the bottom all the way up to the more complex and fulfilling at the top.
At the base of the pyramid are physiological and safety needs, the essentials for survival and security. In the workplace, that translates to things like fair pay, benefits, job stability, and work-life balance. No wonder only 9% of respondents were willing to rank flexibility and balance as least important.
Moving up, we hit esteem needs – the desire for learning, growth, mastery, and recognition. Professionally, this means opportunities for development and advancement. Just 17% put this in last place, underscoring the value of career growth once basic needs are met.
Keep climbing, and you’ll hit belonging – the craving for connection, community, and being part of a team. Interestingly, a collaborative environment tied with a sense of purpose for the bottom ranking, with 37% placing each last.
At the peak sits self-actualization – achieving one’s full potential and finding deep meaning and purpose. In the context of work, this is about feeling connected to a greater mission. But like belonging, 37% ranked this as least important, suggesting that for many, higher-order needs may be taking a backseat to more immediate concerns.
These findings suggest that in the current climate, workers are placing much greater emphasis on getting their core needs met than on higher-order concerns like organizational purpose or team cohesion. And given the last few years, this makes a lot of sense to me.
Add to this the general dissolution of the American dream. Millennials and Gen Z have had a front-row seat to the harsh realities of the modern workplace. We’ve watched our parents devote years of hard work to companies, only to get laid off, struggle to make ends meet, and face the very real possibility of working until they physically can’t. This has instilled a level of skepticism around the “social contract” of employee loyalty and hard work being adequately reciprocated by employers.
None of this means that having a sense of purpose, opportunities for growth, or a great team culture have suddenly become irrelevant—far from it. It’s just that right now, people are understandably putting a premium on the basics—like being able to pay their bills and not burn out in the process. Competitive, equitable compensation and benefits packages, along with real flexibility and respect for work-life balance, can no longer be treated as perks—they are the table stakes required to attract and retain talent today.
When you boil it all down, I think workers are making it clear that they’re done contorting themselves to fit into some rigid, outdated mold of what a “good employee” should be. They’re standing up and saying, “Hey, I’m a human being first, and my basic needs and well-being matter.” The companies that not only hear that message, but actually reshape their culture and practices around it – those are the ones that are going to come out on top in this brave new world of work.
But here’s the thing, and at the risk of sounding like a broken record (because I try to drive this point home with everything I write): prioritizing people isn’t just good for workers—it’s good for business too. When employees feel valued, supported, and empowered to bring their whole selves to work, they’re more engaged, more productive, and more likely to stick around for the long haul. By investing in their people’s well-being and growth, companies can foster a loyal, motivated workforce that will enliven your business.
In the end, building a people-first culture isn’t just the right thing to do—it’s the smart thing to do. It’s a win-win that benefits workers, businesses, and society as a whole. So can we embrace this moment of reckoning as an opportunity to create workplaces that truly work for everyone? Let’s goooooo
