There is more to human existence than work; however, it is clear that if we’re are going to devote a third of our adult lives to our jobs, it is quite helpful to find them meaningful. The degree of meaning and purpose you derive from work may be the biggest difference between a job and a career, and psychological research has consistently shown that when employees feel that they belong to a team or organization — in the sense that it aligns with their values, and enables them to express important aspects of their identity — they will not only tend to perform better, but also experience higher levels of engagement and well-being. In contrast, a lack of belonging will increase the risk of alienation, burnout, and underperformance.

Given this evidence, organizations need to foster belonging in their employees, and modern managers need to act as agents of meaning and purpose if they wish to retain their employees. That is in fact much harder than attracting new talent. This feeling of belonging has become challenged over the past year plus as we’ve shifted away from in-person interactions and found ourselves relying on video calls and screen activities to stay connected. HR and senior executives have encountered new demands when it comes to creating and sustaining a sense of real community, and are realizing that new skill sets are needed.

It is not that leaders are disinterested in boosting a sense of belonging among their employees, but rather, that there isn’t a simple way to do it. This is especially true in an age of hybrid work, when organizations are not only trying to increase the flexibility of working arrangements, but are also working on offering remote policies, which can decrease opportunities to “live and breathe” the culture in person. To be clear, culture does not go away when the office is a bit emptier, nor does it cease to evolve. However, as the experience of culture the way we have gotten used to defining it has become more diffused, elusive, and subjective, it’s harder for organizations to connect with people and connect them through a homogeneous cultural experience. If work is something you do and not a place you come to, then maybe it is about time we got rid of the notion that culture sits within the four walls of the office. We can embrace the fact that we are all living in a gigantic experiment where technology and what we used to call a workplace no longer have any limitations. We can instead focus on human needs and wants to stay healthy, productive, creative, social, and inspired.

In order to address this, organizations (and leaders) must navigate three major challenges.

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