Survey Shows Employees Want To Make A Difference

BOSTON (CBS) - Workers today have more on their minds than money. A new survey by Boston-based tech firm WeSpire shows employees would like to make a difference in this world.

"Young people care much more passionately about the positive impact aspect of their jobs," said WeSpire founder and CEO Susan Hunt-Stevens. "They want more than a paycheck."

WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Jeff Brown reports

What they want and demand is to be engaged while at work.

So what exactly does that mean? Research shows they would like to make an impact on things like:

"Poverty, climate change or, you know, the economic situation that we've, you know, feel like we're coming out of but that has affected them very dramatically," Hunt-Stevens says.

So as graduates and millennials get started on their careers, what's the plan?

"The idea that they're going to join a company and be there for life is just not the way they are thinking about it, so they want to be thinking 'How do I learn, how do I grow and how do I feel good about myself?'"

So let's look at short term goals.

"Many millennials are not necessarily looking to rise up and become the boss or the leader," she says. "They're really looking for ways to grow their skills and to move laterally."

So how do companies respond to this new dynamic?

"According to Gallup, 70 percent of employees are disengaged at work and that is a problem that companies are struggling to solve," Hunt-Stevens says.

It's a huge problem, hundreds of millions of dollars, and solving it is a priority. And it all starts with a great boss.

"If an employee doesn't love working with their manager on a day in and day in basis and feels like that person doesn't care about them as an individual and is helping them be successful it'll be a really big trigger of disengagement."

In the end, workers these days need more than satisfaction of a "job well done."

"Their job is not only to make money for a company and to get a paycheck, but is in many way shape or form, making the world a better place."