Amidst the Great Resignation, leading organisations are realising that by aligning with causes that their people care about, they can build a meaningful employee experience that serves as a powerful tool for engagement, retention and attraction. But how do businesses go about this in an authentic and proactive way?Business leaders Naomi Lever, Head of Sustainability at Standard Chartered Bank; Anshoo Kapoor, Head of Recruitment at Tata Consultancy Services; Claire Ross, Head of Culture at Advanced; Claire Cathcart, YuLife’s People Partner, share their advice for businesses looking to put purpose at the heart of their people strategy.Watch the full discussion here.Our Health and Wellbeing survey, in partnership with YouGov, found that 42% of the UK working adults agree that they're more likely to work for a company with environmental initiatives and creating social impact benefits for others, but interestingly, just 39% believe that their workplace makes a positive impact on society and the planet. So for us as HR professionals, there’s a really clear opportunity to do more to attract people to our organisations. What are your thoughts on these statistics? Naomi: I really feel that in the last 10 years, what we find now with people coming into the workforce is that often their first questions are: What is the sense of purpose? What value does this organisation bring to the world? How can I make a difference by working there? Can I feel proud when I say that this is the organisation I work for? And it’s only once you tick that box that they even want to start to talk about the job! I feel like there's been a massive shift in what's important to people.Claire R: Something we've definitely seen is more interaction with the green social media posts that we put out: the fact that we've got living green walls, the fact that we've got recycling stations. We get much more engagement compared to the more corporate-based content. So actually, people out there are actively paying attention and are really interested in what organisations are doing beyond just work – and that's the big difference over the past couple of years for me.Have you seen that these things have kind of changed more since the COVID lockdown? And do you think it has evolved since the world has come back to normal? Anshoo: I think, definitely the sense of purpose has been there for a while, but I think COVID gave everybody a chance to think about it individually. So as an individual, what are my values? What is my purpose? It was a difficult time for quite a lot of people. And I think it opened up this moment of truth, with people asking: Am I doing the right things? So I think there was this revelation moment that COVID gave us, and I think it was a big game changer.Whether it’s leadership, mid-level hiring, or early talent, I think everyone wants to know a lot about the vision of the organisation and if it’s in line with ESG.These matters around ESG. They're no longer just a nice to have. People are demanding these things as they're researching companies. So how, how are you using ESG to support how you're recruiting people? Anshoo: Whether it’s leadership, mid-level hiring, or early talent, I think everyone wants to know a lot about the vision of the organisation and if it’s in line with ESG. So what we’ve done is make sure that anyone who is part of the hiring process, from managers to candidate experience to recruiters, goes through processes of training to make sure we have an authentic internal story that showcases what we do as an organisation for ESG. Ensuring that our team has one voice, one consistent message provides so much reassurance for new candidates coming in.The moment you start collaborating as a team on these issues, that story is then articulated really well to the external world to say, this is how we are, we may not be perfect, but we are very happy to learn, keep growing and make sure we are on the path to actually delivering on these goals and commitments.Have you introduced any kind of employee benefits or offerings that support your ESG agenda? Claire R: We've got all the usual stuff that you'd expect such as a cycle-to-work scheme and a benefits portal that's got a green focus to it. And we're really guided by our employees in terms of what's the next thing. The thing we're looking at at the moment is how to assist them in getting electric vehicles ahead of some of the legislation change in the UK. Another thing that really helps to attract talent and that we're sharing a lot now is our paid volunteering time. So people being able to go along and use the skills that they've got within the business to help a certain area of community. I think that paid time allows people to connect with what they care about and give something back. Anshoo: We tend to do things with very much a team spirit. So we actually get teams of people together for things such as our ‘kilometre challenges’, which are walking challenges that take place throughout the year. But apart from that, we've also focused a lot on social value impact: outreach programmes specifically focused on people from disadvantaged backgrounds and volunteering opportunities.We’ve invested in employee health in a big way as well, offering comprehensive cover, such as private medical, that even includes things like menopause – which is being discussed in a big way in organisations right now. So having a virtual GP for people to reach out to and an employee assistance programme, which focuses even more deeply on wellbeing, and means people have access to that extra intervention to help them support them at work."We're not just doing this because it's the right thing to do, but there is also a business reason for doing this: there’s money on the table."There's so much out there now that as HR professionals we can be doing. What one piece of advice would you give to a HR professional starting out in their ESG agenda?Claire R: I definitely say, listen to your employees. They are the people who are going to come together to make that collective impact. If you try to dictate and say what you want the actions to be, you're not going to have the same energy. You're not going to have the same passion around it. But if it's something where collectively you've decided on the actions you're going take as an organisation, I find you get a lot more uptake from employees.Anshoo: I would say keep it as an evolving plan, and communicate that plan. My one piece of advice would be to get hold of early influencers. You will always have some people more passionate about it than others. So early influencers in this space will help you drive the agenda. It's not about you doing everything, it's you letting everyone and employees do their thing. It will look and work in favour of engagement, retention and development.Naomi: I would say don’t lose sight of the fact that there is a business purpose to this as well. One of the things we always talk about in sustainability, is that it’s a balance of purpose and profit. We're not just doing this because it's the right thing to do, but there is also a business reason for doing this: there’s money on the table. And as an organisation, if there's an opportunity to maximise that and do the right thing and at the same time, it really helps to engage particularly some of your business leaders and some of your commercial leaders.How can you encourage your employees to take ownership of the ESG agenda? Claire R: I think that the more that we can bring information to the forefront, about all the things we're already doing in this area, it sparks interests of people saying: ‘Well, if you've done those things, how about this?’ So I think it's a mix of comms, as well as leading from the top. I think that brings a nice two-way interaction where leadership will tell you what we’re doing from the top of the organisation, but then the employee is encouraged to tell us what we need to do as well, so we can all work together.How can YuLife support your ESG objectives?Establishing purpose at the centre of your people strategy isn't just a nice to have, it’s increasingly becoming a powerful tool for employee retention, attraction and engagement.By rewarding members with YuCoin for engaging in healthy behaviours such as walking, running, cycling and mindfulness, partnering with YuLife means that companies can make an immediate difference to both the wellbeing of employees, and their direct impact on climate change, by encouraging them towards lower-impact modes of transport.Another way YuLifers can spend their YuCoin is by supporting social and environmental causes they feel passionate about. For instance, YuLife members can donate YuCoin to plant trees, provide food and water to families in need and help crowdfund career opportunities for homeless people. Discover more here.