People Want Belonging More Than Salary. Here’s Why It Matters So Much

New data finds that while people need a fair salary, they would also trade off 10% of their salary for work experiences that deliver belonging, meaning, caring and wellbeing. In fact, these make a significant difference in driving motivation and performance as well as engagement and retention. And it’s critical that we consider work experience today, since large percentages of people report not only that they lack a sense of direction, but also that they feel unsatisfied or unfulfilled in their careers. Many say they’re just getting by.

What People Want

A new survey from Reward Gateway finds that fully 50% of people would trade a 10% increase in salary for a sense of belonging at work. Generationally, it was 57% of Millennials, 52% of Gen Z, 50% of Gen X and 42% of Boomers who said belonging is that critical.

People crave connections but 43% say they don’t feel connected with coworkers and 69% are unsatisfied with their social connections at work, according to data from BetterUp . In addition, the number of people who say someone cares about them at work has fallen from 47% in 2020 to 39% today based on studies by Gallup .

Mike Petrusky, director of podcasts with Eptura who has hosted 600 episodes over 10 years on his Workplace Innovator Podcast , agrees. He says, “We are dealing with isolation and loneliness and a mental health well-being crisis. There’s a hunger for getting together in real life.”

Why Belonging Is So Important

So why is belonging so critical for a great work experience?

Belonging Energizes Us

When we’re together with other people, we tend to be energized. Collective effervescence is the term that describes the emotional contagion of feeling motivated and energized when we’re with other people.

Bob Fox is the founder and executive producer of Work Design , and he has over 40 years in the design and architecture profession. He points out in his State of the Workplace 2026 Report how much people crave experiences. He compares what people want in their work to the ‘concert standard.’ “Even during the pandemic, people would endure traffic, crowds, cost and masks…because they craved the experience. They want the energy, the connection, the ‘being there’,” he says.

Connection matters. “People want to be together in real life, having opportunities to rub shoulders with others, share, see their facial expressions, body language and really become connected,” says Petrusky.

Belonging Engages Us

Belonging is also important because it engages us. A sense of obligation and responsibility to others is healthy for communities. We want to know others are counting on us and we want to be seen and acknowledged for our contributions.

To this end, the best offices help us connect and experience a line of sight to others (literally and figuratively) who rely on our work. In this way, the best offices create experiences we want to be part of. “The objective is not occupancy, but engagement—measured through energy, participation and return behavior,” says Fox.

And in a world where technology, and AI specifically, have become ubiquitous, engagement must be uniquely human. The value of human engagement shifts and it expands. Fox says, “As AI commoditizes technical execution, the source of human value shifts from production to judgment, synthesis and wisdom.”

We have so many tools, but we must be able to tap into human expertise and potential. Says Fox, “The primary limitation facing organizations is no longer a lack of tools or information, but a failure to surface and connect existing human capability.”

Petrusky too sees the critical nature of human contribution. “AI can deliver information very quickly… but we still need to make good decisions and communicate those decisions. That’s where we become irreplaceable as human beings,” he says.

Belonging Validates Us

Interestingly, we don’t get a sense of belonging just from being with other people. A true sense of belonging comes from a shared sense of social identity. We feel strong identity from our roles in our family or with friends or in our volunteer work.

And work is also a critical source for identity as well. We understand ourselves based on our roles and we get a sense of who we are based on the contributions we make.

A constructive culture allows people to be fully themselves. “We want belonging,” says Petrusky. “People want to show up as their authentic selves.”

And culture offers reciprocity as well. With a strong culture, I see myself in you and you see yourself in me. Or, as Petrusky says, “Being who I am is a good thing and being who you are is a good thing.”

Strong cultures value people’s unique contributions and provide alignment (as much as possible) between what people love to do and what they must do in their jobs. When we feel valued and feel our skills are fully leveraged, we get a boost to our esteem and our motivation.

Create Belonging with Intention

But great work experiences don’t happen by chance. Fox points out how critical it is that we take an intentional approach. “Venue management treats each day as a programmed experience rather than a passive backdrop,” he says.

It’s not all about money or salary. People want more and belonging is one of the primary factors they’re seeking. It’s possible to create belonging amidst work that engages and energizes when we focus on creating connections, catalyzing community and building belonging are important places to start.

By Tracy Brower, PhD, Senior Contributor

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