Purpose, passion and profit at work?

Often the deficient management of human capital leads to low motivation and satisfaction among employees. Which in turn could impact employees health and wellbeing as well as the organisation's health culture. However, this is a new area of enquiry in Malaysia. Therefore, this study aimed to explore 1) What motivates young professionals in Malaysia to stay in their current organisation; 2) Their perception and experience of their organisational culture, and 3) How these perceptions and experiences might affect their job satisfaction and job engagement. Data was collected through 3 semi-structured focus group discussions. Participants consisted of volunteers and paid employees from Malaysian NGOs aged between 19 to 30 years old. The data obtained were analysed and interpreted using thematic analysis. The emerging themes identified in this study were consistent with Smith and Shields (2013): Passion/Gratification/Experience, Communication/Team support/Leadership, Building Skills and Learning Opportunities. The shared experiences by the participants in this study suggested that job satisfaction was experienced not only as a result of being able to give back to the community, but also from the instant gratification and the sense of achievement of witnessing how their efforts made a difference. On the other hand, healthy relationships with colleagues as well as being heard, supported and encouraged by supervisors contribute to their motivation to engage at work. The results of this study provide grounds for further research in understanding the underlying motivators to work and/or volunteer for NGOs among young professionals in Malaysia. In turn, research-based initiatives could be designed to enable a healthy working culture that can prevent negative health and wellbeing outcomes among employees. This will contribute towards strengthening their purpose to work, passion to explore and motivation to contribute to the organisation. This would ensure the sustainable mental health and wellbeing of everyone in the organisation.