How to Know if You’re Working for a Purposeful Company - That Aligns with You

More and more people look for meaning at work, especially younger generations. We also spend more time working as we live longer and we want those years to count and to mean something. 

How can we tell if we are working for a purposeful company? An authentic one that is not there to be trendy and one that aligns with who we are? 

(Same questions below may apply while you are looking for a purposeful company to work for. Ask these to someone who is already working there.)

#1 – How does the company you work for enhance human lives or improve our planet? How do the services or products contribute to others’ well-being or our planet? 

They made us think and believe the only sign a company being successful is about its revenue and profit. Yet we all know we need more. Why does the company exist besides making profit is the question we need to ask. 

If you can find an answer that truly resonates with you, that’s a wonderful sign on its own.

#2 – Do the company’s values align with yours? Even if the values aren’t stated explicitly, you can often sense them. For example:

• Is creativity and innovation encouraged? 

• When coworkers share great ideas, how are they received?

• Do leaders take credit for ideas that aren’t theirs?

• Is honest communication encouraged, or suppressed?

• Is profit maximization pushing employees to act in ways that conflict with honesty or integrity?

• Are people treated with respect?

• Do employees feel like they matter—or just like a number?

These all point to values and how they are lived throughout the company. A company might even have it all on their website yet pay attention if they really mean it in daily life. 

Value alignment is a big deal, even if we don’t always notice it consciously. If your top value is honesty, but you’re asked to sell a product to clients who don’t really need it, your body will likely feel it first—in the form of discomfort, resistance, or stress. That’s value clash, and it’s real. Check in with yourself and your values if you are aligned. 

#3 – Is there a shared, inspiring vision? Does the company clearly communicate where it’s headed and what kind of impact it hopes to make on the world?

A great company will paint a vivid picture of how their work improves lives or helps the planet. When everyone knows and believes in this vision, it creates a sense of belonging. People are united by a common vision and feel more connected to their work. They know why they come to work every day besides making money.

#4 – Can you be your true self at work? Can you show up without pretense, share your ideas, voice your concerns, and be accepted for who you are—without fear of negative consequences?

If you can say yes to that, you’re in a rare and beautiful situation. I’ve only had one job like that, and it was an incredible feeling - until I started my business. 

#5 – Are you using your real strengths at work? Can you shift roles, explore different departments, or grow into positions that better match your strengths? 

#6 – Is your potential being used—without burning you out? Do you feel heard, appreciated, and recognized for what you bring to the table? 

(Items #4, #5, #6 are not directly related to being a purposeful company YET no organization can be a great one without embodying these in their culture. Purpose will not hold if you do not respect and care for your people. Period.)

#7– Does your company have a purpose beyond profit? Back to #1 because that is the core. Can they clearly articulate why they exist—what problem they are trying to solve in the world? 

And is that message communicated often, not just buried on the website somewhere? Does everyone know the company's why? 

#8 – Can you see how your work connects to the bigger purpose? Even if no one spells it out for you, can you see how your role contributes to the company’s purpose? 

Ideally, you won’t have to guess. In a truly purpose-driven company, that connection is made clear—frequently and passionately—so you can show up every day knowing your time and energy are contributing to something that matters. This is the ultimate place. You are not forced to change your purpose yet your purpose and the company's is aligned. 

This Is the Future We Deserve

We want a future where people go to work inspired. Where they know how their contribution matters. Where they can be themselves, use their strengths, and reach their potential.

 When that happens, people thrive—and they inspire others, too. They can look back knowing they spent their lives doing something meaningful.

As the British Academy puts it:

“purposeful business as businesses whose primary goal is to create profitable solutions for societal and environmental problems, rather than profiting from creating those problems." 

Purposeful organizations care about people. And people want that now more than ever.

The era of working in places that offer none of these things is coming to an end. Many people don’t even have one of these qualities in their current workplace. That is a tragic waste of human potential.

We Can—and Must—Demand More

We don’t need to choose between working and living meaningful lives. We can have both.

Our planet and our species are the best we know of. We can't afford to keep creating problems. We need to build solutions.

That starts with all of us: 

• Job seekers: Purpose-driven job seekers who look for better (yes it might not be your next job but keep looking, keep demanding more)

• Have a current job: Courageous leaders who inspire their teams and show them the “why” behind the work.

• Entrepreneurs who start companies that care—not just profit.

• Retired or in between jobs: seeking out people and movements working to reshape the system.

We won’t get there by waiting for someone else to fix it. We get there by caring. Acting. Creating.

Hope in the near future my clients who look for meaningful work will find it easy to do so because they will demand more, or they will start their own businesses with the purpose, vision they have for this world, or become leaders who understand these principles and implement them where they are, knowing these principles are crucial for our future. 

Purposefully,

Ozlem Brooke Erol