The People's Point of View: Our First Look at the State of Work and Career Success 2022

I began a journey to create the State of Career and Work Success in 2020 because I had questions I didn’t see any answers to: What does it take to be successful in the new world of work? What holds us back as individuals (not employees) from reaching our goals? 

I wanted to offer a more inclusive and human-centered view of what the workforce wants because today’s worker isn’t just a full-time or part-time employee. 

Ultimately, our focus is to establish an ongoing pulse of individuals in the workforce and track their progress towards achieving their work and life goals over time. Do they feel like they have been successful in achieving their goals at this stage of their life or not? And how does this translate to organizational success?

I am excited to share some of the findings from our second annual survey, titled What Workers Want. It’s a fascinating snapshot of the current state of work — and I think, when you consider these responses were coming in at the peak of The Great Reshuffle, we can see that these last two years have been a tipping point for a lot of people.

People’s Priorities Have Changed

We found that less than half of U.S. workers are satisfied with where they are with respect to the progress they are making in their career, the current position they are in, or the compensation for that position. 

And we think this sentiment highlights why so many are choosing to make a change in their careers during the pandemic. Especially when you consider that, in every demographic surveyed, people do not rank wealth as their primary life goal. 

We asked survey respondents to rank their top three most important life goals. And what people want out of life, first and foremost, is to be able to spend time with family; 56% of those surveyed ranked that as their top priority. This was followed by leading a fulfilling life and getting the most out of life.

Creating wealth and being prepared for retirement are still important life goals for about one third of workers, but they are prioritized significantly less and less often than family or fulfillment.

We also asked survey respondents to rank their top three career goals. And while earning a steady income comes in first (39%), U.S. workers also prioritize doing work that is meaningful (28%) and being in a field where they can channel their passion (25%).

This reflects a mindset shift in the workforce where purpose, passion, AND pay are the focus of today’s worker — not just money.

Gina Woodall, President of Rockbridge Associates, who I partnered with for this research, offered an important point in a recent episode of Strategic Momentum:

“But when we actually are able to link it to the impact on career success or satisfaction with their career, earning a steady income goes down and what's really driving them at the highest level are things where you get into this idea of passion, right? 

That they’re doing work that is meaningful to them, that they're in a field that they're passionate about, that the work is interesting: those are the career goals that are really impacting how they feel about themselves in terms of the satisfaction with their careers.”

Work-Life Integration

Work life and home life are no longer siloed and separate. In fact, over 60% of U.S. workers surveyed for the State of Work and Career Success 2022 agree that work and career are integrated in their personal life. And the pandemic certainly seems to have accelerated this view.

Microsoft’s 2022 Work Trend Index adds some additional context, reporting that “53% of employees are more likely to prioritize health and wellbeing over work than before the pandemic” and “47% of respondents say they are more likely to put family and personal life over work than they were before the pandemic.”

The real shift is an AND, not an OR. It’s not about personal or professional, purpose or profit. It’s all increasingly connected.

Individuality & Personal Development

52% of U.S. workers agree that their professional ambition isn’t tied to being part of a company. This signals a continued shift from conformity — tying one’s professional identity and success to the organization they work for — to individual agency. 

There is also a recognition that skills development, whether it’s in or outside their chosen field, should never be stagnant. On top of that, over half of Gen Z (52%) and millennials (55%) expect their employer to be responsible for preparing them for the future of work.

Flexibility isn’t a Perk, It’s a Requirement

Giving people the flexibility to work where and when they want is critical. Over 60% of the workers we surveyed believe that’s how they work best.

And this attitude is only going to become more dominant as the demographics of the workplace continue to shift. Microsoft’s 2022 Work Trend Index revealed a huge gap between Gen-Z and everyone else when it comes to flexibility, mobility, and entrepreneurial freedom; they’re more likely to change jobs, more likely to shift to hybrid work, more likely to shift to remote work, more likely to seek out a side gig, more likely to move because remote work enables them to, and significantly more likely to engage with a company on LinkedIn if it mentions flexibility (77% for Gen-Z vs. 30% for Millennials).

Why Does Individual Work & Career Success Matter for Organizations?

Success is like dominoes. One small success can lead to another, and another and another. But if you weren’t set up properly, if you fall short, inertia takes control.

A lot of leaders and organizations may not see it as their responsibility to help foster personal success — leadership is there to drive organizational results.

But our survey shows that when individuals feel successful with the progress they are making in their career, it not only positively impacts their personal and professional goals but also influences their likelihood to stay with their company, be committed, and even recommend it to others.

Only 29% of those who feel unsuccessful when it comes to their career progress respond that they plan to stay at their current job. This is in contrast with 64% of those who feel highly successful with their career progress. And we see very similar responses when it comes to recommending the organization and commitment to the organization.

And this is what I really want leaders to understand — most of your people already feel like their work, career, and personal life are linked. So you have to take responsibility for all of that if you want these workers to stay and give you their best.

Still not convinced that a change is necessary? Well, more than half of the people we surveyed agree that their professional ambitions aren't tied to being part of a company, with 71% of those who self-identify as being highly successful agreeing. So if you want to retain the best people, you have to give them something that makes them feel successful in their life and career.

And if organizations can’t or won’t offer the flexibility that people want, if organizations won’t support people holistically on their career journey, then employees will go elsewhere to find those that do or go independent. And this is especially true for younger generations. 

If you aren’t willing to invest in people, they’ll probably move on to something else.

Finding People-Company Fit

Companies are often looking for the one-size-fits-all solution. But that just isn’t going to exist anymore. And it can’t. Companies aren’t one-dimensional and neither are the people who fuel them.

When an organization is looking for product-market fit, they seek to align the wants and needs of their target audience to the solutions the organization can deliver to satisfy them. Well, your people are your target audience here.

People-company fit might take a little more curation to the individual than product-market fit, but it still comes down to the same fundamentals: testing, learning, and iterating.

But there’s simply no getting around it — your peoples’ new priorities have to be your organization’s new priorities if you want to keep talented, engaged workers of any age. 

To discover more learnings and insights from the State of Work and Career Success 2022, go to whatworkerswant.com.

This article was originally published on LinkedIn as part of Connie Steele’s monthly newsletter, The Human Side of Work. You can find the original article and subscribe to the newsletter at https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/peoples-point-view-our-first-look-state-work-career-wang-steele.