The last few years have shown us a pandemic, a changing political landscape, the failings of social systems and the remote work revolution. The Great Resignation demonstrated how people are re-evaluating the purpose of their employment. People are looking beyond a paycheck in their career choices.  

In academia and in industry, there is some status-quo thinking on employee motivation. However, there may be a missing piece in understanding people’s employment choices.  

Bucky Fairfax, DBA ’21, argues that missing piece is “purpose-fit.” 

“Purpose-fit is the alignment of an organization's purpose and an individual's purpose,” Fairfax says. “That is a driver to attract individuals to organizations.” 

Fairfax, now executive vice president and chief human resources officer of RTI International, started his career journey working at an international child fund nonprofit. This exposure to social welfare and international development work informed his career path.   

“Since then, I haven't really looked back,” he says, adding that his job searches in both the corporate and nonprofit sectors have included organizations working to improve the human condition. 

This interest also led to Fairfax’s research on purpose-fit and how it relates to generations, economic security and social crises.   

In his first study, Fairfax conducted semi-structured interviews to find out what attracts people to an employer. Initially, people shared the typical stuff such as salary, benefits and flexibility. However, as conversations progressed, Fairfax found a theme bubbling up to the surface—a real interest for work that has meaning and impact.  

“That drives people,” Fairfax says. 

His research also found the connection between purpose-fit and pay. In one of his studies, Fairfax explored which employer attributes would contribute to job seekers’ willingness to accept lower pay.  

His findings showed that people were willing to accept lower pay for these attractive job qualities: good colleagues, purpose-fit, growth and development. Additionally, people were willing to take a 15% pay cut for these qualities.  

Even those who said that they were in an unfavorable economic position still reported a willingness to accept somewhat reduced pay for attractive job qualities like purpose-fit. This showed that purpose-fit mattered across the socioeconomic spectrum. 

Fairfax says that decision makes sense and links to social identity theory.  

“You're looking for your identity to be either elevated or associated with your employer,” he says. “You want to be proud of your employer. You want to have that connection.” 

This search for one’s identity to be associated with an employer is important for many people. Fairfax found that social crises have affected how people search for jobs and that effect is seen differently across generations, which he says is important information for employers to tune into.   

Another one of his studies found that generation had a significant effect on employees’ search for new jobs in response to employers’ response to COVID-19 and the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement protests. 

Gen Z employees were more likely to actively seek new employment in response to the BLM movement than Gen X and Boomers. Millennials were more likely to actively seek new employment in response to COVID-19 than Gen X. 

These findings have implications for employers who want to attract and retain talent.  

“I think that organizations that responded well to those [crises] probably had a much greater retention than those that really struggled with [increased] resignations,” Fairfax says. 

Moving forward, organizations are likely to be more mindful of national social, political and environmental movements, and the ways they shape workplace behavior. The Great Resignation, the pandemic and the BLM movement showed that people were looking for work to better suit their needs and values.  

Fairfax has had a chance to apply and consider his research as an HR professional navigating this landscape. Working with a geographically and generationally diverse staff has provided an opportunity to be thoughtful about purpose-fit and DEI efforts at his organization.  

“Social issues always affect your culture. We're not immune to them and employees process and experience them differently and show up differently at work,” Fairfax says. “Being able to provide the right support system, but also the right expectation around how we operate with one another is important.” 

So, what is next for Fairfax’s research? Well, he has a couple of ideas.  

He hopes to broaden the application of purpose-fit beyond attraction to retention, engagement and employee experience, and to explore further the relationship between an employee’s willingness to accept lower pay and purpose-fit.