Purpose, Not Perks - with Victoria Lewis-Stephens

Lucinda is joined by Victoria Lewis-Stevens, MD at United Culture, to discuss the importance of purpose over perks in organisations. They explore how organisations can add greater value during a downturn by focusing on purpose and engaging employees. Victoria shares her expertise in helping businesses articulate their culture and align it with their purpose, and talks about the role of line managers in driving engagement plus the need for organisations to invest time and effort in supporting and empowering them. KEY TAKEAWAYS While fair pay is important, employees are more engaged and motivated when they connect with the purpose of the organisation. When individuals can align their personal values with the values and purpose of the organisation, it creates a sense of meaning and fulfillment. Organisations need to clearly define their purpose and ensure that it is communicated in a compelling and meaningful way. This involves telling the story of the organisation's purpose and helping employees understand how their individual roles contribute to that purpose. HR professionals should review policies and procedures to ensure they align with the organisation's purpose. Policies should be seen as frameworks that enable line managers to make decisions that reflect the purpose and values of the organisation, rather than rigid rules that restrict flexibility. Employees value recognition for their contributions, and this can be as simple as a genuine thank you. Continuous learning and personal development opportunities are also important, and organisations can provide these through various means such as job shadowing, job swaps, or buddying programs. BEST MOMENTS "You tend to get attracted to the brands and to the organisations that are out there talking about the difference they make in the world." "I think the secret and the key thing is it doesn't matter almost what the purpose, what the mission, what the values, what the strategy is of an organisation, it's how does the individual role connect to that." "I think most people, if they're engaged and they're in the organisation and they feel like their personal values reflect and support an organszation's purpose, most people are sensible enough to recognize, I can't have it my own way." "I think line managers and leaders are a very underserved community in large organisations with huge roles and huge influence." VALUABLE RESOURCES The HR Uprising Podcast | Apple | Spotify | Stitcher   The HR Uprising LinkedIn Group How to Prioritise Self-Care (The HR Uprising) How To Be A Change Superhero - by Lucinda Carney HR Uprising Mastermind - https://hruprising.com/mastermind/   www.changesuperhero.com www.hruprising.com            Get your copy of How To Be A Change Superhero by emailing at [email protected]   ABOUT THE GUEST Victoria is passionate about the impact employee and customer engagement can have on driving business growth and performance. She founded United Culture in 2019, prior to this she was managing partner at comms consultancy Instinctif Partners.  At United Culture, Victoria helps some of the most recognisable brands in the world, including Bacardi Ltd, Marriott International, to develop compelling engagement strategies. She specialises in helping businesses engage their people during periods of significant change, turning them into growth drivers and brand advocates. https://www.linkedin.com/in/victoria-lewis-stephens-70277720/ https://www.unitedcultureco.com/ ABOUT THE HOST Lucinda Carney is a Business Psychologist with 15 years in Senior Corporate L&D roles and a further 10 as CEO of Actus Software where she worked closely with HR colleagues helping them to solve the same challenges across a huge range of industries. It was this breadth of experience that inspired Lucinda to set up the HR Uprising community to facilitate greater collaboration across HR professionals in different sectors, helping them to ‘rise up’ together. “If you look up, you rise up” CONTACT METHOD Join the LinkedIn community - https://www.linkedin.com/groups/13714397/ Email: [email protected] Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucindacarney/ Twitter: @lucindacarney Instagram: @hruprising Facebook: @hruprising HR podcast, The HR Uprising, Diversity, Equality & Inclusion, Learning and Development, Culture & Change: https://hruprising.com/hr-podcasts/