By Christina Fiebich, Marketing Director
Here’s a surprising statistic from a recent Gallup poll. Only 41 percent of U.S. employees say they definitely know what their company stands for — its mission, or why it’s in business, and how it’s different from competing companies.
While most business leaders can clearly describe their company or organization’s mission, most employees can’t, Gallup research shows. Another surprising fact: Only four in 10 U.S. employees strongly believe that the mission of their company makes them feel their job is important.
Gallup’s findings are especially troubling, given the fact that a wide range of research shows a clear link between how well employees understand their company’s mission and purpose and how well a company performs. According to Gallup, just a 10 percent improvement in a workforce’s connection with their company’s mission or purpose would likely result in an 8.1 percent decrease in employee turnover and a 4.4 percent increase in profitability.
What does this mean to you and your company? First, if your company or organization doesn’t have a formal mission, it needs one. If it has one, everyone should understand what it is and how their work ties into and is important to this purpose. It’s a two-step task that isn’t always easy to accomplish, but an important step in the success of any company or organization.