68% of respondents report that their strategies now lean more towards meaningful work, organisational culture, and values than towards pay and benefits. Within this, 17% say they are strongly prioritising these non-financial factors, while a further 51% indicate a more moderate (but still clear) tilt in the same direction. By contrast, only 5% prioritise financial rewards over culture and meaning, and just 1% do so strongly.

This hints at an ongoing structural rebalancing within the world of work.

Pay and benefits have traditionally functioned as the primary levers through which employers competed for the right people: while culture and purpose were often acknowledged, they tended to sit in the background, difficult to quantify and even harder to implement. Yet, the data suggests is that the hierarchy is rapidly shifting, as meaningful work and organisational culture move from the margins of organisational thinking to the core of how value is created and sustained.

This is due to a several reasons. First, workforce expectations are evolving: across multiple demographic groups, but particularly among younger cohorts, there is a growing emphasis on aligning individual values and organisational purpose. Work is no longer viewed solely as a transactional exchange of labour for income, but as a site of identity, meaning, and social contribution. In this context, organisations that fail to articulate a compelling sense of purpose risk disengagement, even if they offer competitive compensation.

Second, labour market conditions continue to exert pressure. In a context of persistent skills shortages and increased mobility, financial incentives alone are proving insufficient to secure long-term commitment. Employees may be attracted by salary, but they are retained by experience, the quality of leadership, the inclusiveness of culture, and the perceived meaningfulness of their work.

More broadly, the nature of work itself is changing: as routine tasks are increasingly automated and roles become more fluid, the human dimensions of work, such as creativity, collaboration, and problem-solving, come to the fore. These are precisely the areas where culture, values, and purpose exert the greatest influence. In other words, as work becomes less about execution and more about engagement, the conditions that enable that engagement become strategically critical.

Implications for employers

Pay and benefits remain a vital lever for employers, especially in contexts shaped by economic pressure and heightened competition for skills. The emerging shift is therefore less about reducing the importance of reward and more about how this is positioned within a wider employment proposition. Competitive compensation is increasingly expected, while meaningful work, culture, and values shape longer-term engagement. This presents an opportunity for organisations to align pay and reward more closely with employee expectations, ensuring they reinforce, rather than operate separately from, the broader experience of work.

The challenge, however, is to translate abstract concepts such as ‘purpose’ and ‘culture’ into tangible, lived experiences. This includes embedding values into leadership behaviours, designing roles that offer autonomy and development, and ensuring that organisational narratives are credible and consistent with day-to-day realities.

This also requires measurement: if culture and meaning are now central to competitive advantage, they must be tracked, analysed, and managed with the same rigour as financial performance.

This signal sits at the heart of the broader story told by the Future@Work report: a labour market in transition, where the drivers of value are becoming more human, more relational, and more complex. The organisations that recognise and respond to this shift will be best placed to attract, engage, and retain the talent they need in the years ahead.