Today's workforce wants more than just a "job well done" pat on the back, according to a new Forum for People Performance Management and Measurement white paper, "Beyond Employee Engagement: Creating Enrichment." Instead, says the white paper, to be motivated, employees need to feel they are truly valued and cared about, and suggests using "employee enrichment" as a solution.

Forum Research Director Jennifer Rosenzweig explained the employee enrichment approach: "[It] encourages leaders to take actions that address both the work and non-work factors in employees' lives based on the expectation that the better a person's well-being, the better that person will perform on the job." Rosenzweig sees the concept as going beyond employee satisfaction and engagement, to actually assisting employees in their pursuit of both meaningful work and work-life balance.

The white paper gives examples of a few well-known businesses that now use enrichment techniques. It also details the key factors of employee enrichment and promotes the idea that employees be regarded as an essential part of the company and not just property to be "managed."