Employees are most motivated when they see the meaning of their work.

What do you enjoy most about your work? Is it the pay? The office décor? Or something more profound? It should be the latter.

Both employees and organizations benefit when their work is perceived to be meaningful. Meaningful work has a positive outcome for other people outside the company, for example, by making them feel happy or fulfilled, or improving their quality of life. This type of work greatly increases the intrinsic motivation of an employee.

This was illustrated by a study of student employees at a University of Michigan call center, tasked with calling alumni to ask for donations. At the start of the study, the call center employees met a former student who had gotten his scholarship thanks to the funds raised by the call center. Suddenly, the call center employees’ work seemed more meaningful, and the subsequent increase in motivation was demonstrated by the substantial increase in revenue generated by each employee.

The call center study illustrates perfectly why it’s important to let employees see the impact of their work. In a corporate setting, this often means connecting to the end users of a company’s products.

For example, the medical technology company Medtronic throws a party every year and invites six patients, whose lives have been transformed by the company’s products, to tell their stories. This way, even the company’s engineers and salespeople get to hear about the true impact of their work.

And this doesn’t just apply to employees. At IBM, the CEO insisted that the top 50 senior executives visit at least five of the company’s biggest customers in a three-month window, so they too could see the impact of their work.

If it’s not possible for employees to connect directly with the end users of the company’s products, leaders should encourage them to share stories where they felt they made positive impacts. For example, at the investment bank Merrill Lynch, teams start their weekly meetings by sharing and discussing stories about helping customers.