The Demographics of Career Fulfillment: New Research Reveals Patterns
When we talk about career fulfillment, it's tempting to think of it as a one-size-fits-all proposition. But our Center for Workforce Transformation's comprehensive study of workers across the United States and Europe tells a more nuanced story. While we've identified the 10 key attributes that define career fulfillment and demonstrated their impact on both personal and professional success, understanding how these elements manifest across different demographic groups offers even more useful insights for both individuals and organizations.
Our research included perspectives from multiple generations, gender identities, work environments, and geographical locations. The findings challenge some common assumptions while reinforcing the universal importance of building comprehensive career fulfillment — regardless of who you are or where you work.
Understanding Career Fulfillment Across Demographics
A workplace is full of many different sub-groups of employees and understanding their commonalities and special needs is critical for organizational action. It's important to note that analyzing the data at the group level is not a substitute for conversations with the individuals within an organization, as there are often more differences within groups than between them. That said, when designing an employee experience that seeks to foster career fulfillment broadly, data like this can inform strategies for developing each of the 10 attributes within the workforce.
Gender Perspectives on Career Fulfillment
Our study found that 31% of men and 28% of women are prospering, meaning they have at least eight of the 10 career attributes in place. Men also scored higher on each individual attribute. In particular, men were more likely than women to score highly on Stability and Career Identity.
Interestingly for both genders, the same career attributes predicted success in the outcomes studied. This indicates that while men generally have more career fulfillment than women, the importance of each facet of a career remains the same for both genders. This suggests that addressing gender gaps in career fulfillment isn't about creating different frameworks for different genders, but rather ensuring equal access to opportunities for developing these attributes.
The Desk Divide: Comparing Deskless and Deskbound Workers
One of the more striking findings in our research concerns the disparities between deskless and deskbound workers. Deskless workers consistently reported lower scores across all dimensions of career fulfillment. The largest gaps were in Autonomy, Stability, and Career Identity. Considering that Career Identity is the largest single driver of innovation for employees for both sets of workers, closing this gap is important for pushing organizations forward.
Just 23% of deskless workers in our study have reached the milestone of eight or more attributes, nine points lower than their deskbound counterparts (32%). With that gap in mind, organizations should consider opportunities to foster more independence for workers on the frontlines. As HR and other leaders develop policies, it’s important to ensure that solutions are equally accessible to those employees on retail floors, in hospitals, or driving trucks, many of whom may not have consistent access to technology or time during their workdays to focus on growth and development opportunities.
Generational Insights: From Gen Z to Baby Boomers
Our researchers wanted to understand whether different age groups needed different things out of a career, and surprisingly, the answer was no. Perhaps the most important insight the study provides for younger workers is that collecting the attributes necessary for a fulfilling career may simply be a matter of time. Only about 20% of survey respondents in Generation Z have accumulated the magic number of eight attributes, while that number is more than 35% for Baby Boomers.
A few notable differences did emerge in terms of how these attributes influence specific outcomes. Younger workers were most in need of Career-Life Integration to minimize stress, well above the other attributes, while older generations indicated that other attributes, such as Organizational Satisfaction and Values Alignment earn near equal billing. Conversely, for older workers, increases in productivity were more heavily driven by Connectedness and Growth & Development, while nearly every attribute contributed equally to workplace contribution for younger workers.
Trans-Atlantic Perspectives: Europe vs. the U.S.
As noted in this article, European workers (who made up 3,200 of the 6,900 workers in the study) reported lower scores than American workers on each of the attributes associated with a fulfilling career. However, a specific cluster analysis by country showed that building a multifaceted career is no less important in Europe than it is in the U.S. Workers achieving eight attributes see great success in life, health, and productivity outcomes.
There are a few places where the data diverges when it comes to the individual attributes' relationship to outcomes. For example, the most important drivers of improved mental health in the U.S. are Stability and Purpose, while European workers prioritize Connectedness and Growth & Development. Similarly, Career Pride is a key predictor of innovation in Europe, while it doesn't rank as highly in the U.S.
Conversely, the finding that Organizational Satisfaction and Career Pride are the two most important factors in long-term life satisfaction holds true for both populations. Organizations with employees spanning multiple continents should ensure they understand the nuanced differences and the broad commonalities that exist between these groups when working with employees to develop fulfilling career paths.
Discover More About Career Fulfillment
Our research continues to reveal new insights about how career fulfillment manifests across different populations. To learn more about these demographic patterns and their implications for both individuals and organizations, download our comprehensive report, A Formula for Fulfilling Work: The 10 Attributes that Drive Personal and Organizational Impact.
New to this research? Start with our overview of the 10 key attributes that define career fulfillment, then explore how these attributes create powerful personal and professional outcomes before diving into these demographic insights.