For over fifteen years, David Rock’s SCARF model has been the go-to neuroscience framework for managers and Learning and Development professionals seeking to understand what drives – or diminishes – employee engagement. Status, Certainty, Autonomy, Relatedness, and Fairness have shaped countless training programmes, leadership interventions, and change management strategies across UK and European organisations. Yet recent research suggests we’ve been missing something fundamental: the psychological need to matter.

As a learning and development manager, or the person who leads on L&D in your business, you’ve likely invested considerable effort in ‘belonging’ initiatives—building team cohesion, fostering inclusive cultures, and creating psychological safety. These efforts address SCARF’s Relatedness dimension beautifully. But here’s the challenge: Gallup’s 2025 data reveals that only 10% of UK workers feel engaged in their roles – the second lowest in Europe. Meanwhile, 82% of workers report feeling lonely, 65% feel underappreciated, and 30% feel invisible despite being part of teams. There’s something deeper at play here.

The Shift from Belonging to Mattering

The answer lies in recognising that belonging and mattering are not the same thing. Belonging asks: “Am I part of this group?” Mattering asks: “Do I make a meaningful difference to these people I work with?” This distinction matters – quite literally – for your engagement outcomes.

Research from the University of Bradford found that mattering addresses our significance to others – whether we’re noticed, whether our contributions are valued, and whether we’d be missed.

Additionally, research from the Institute for Employment Studies (IES), based on data from over 10,000 employees across 14 NHS organisations, identified that the strongest driver of employee engagement is a sense of feeling valued for their unique contributions and involved in decisions affecting their work.

This comprehensive study found that whilst engagement correlates with many aspects of working life, nothing predicts engagement more powerfully than whether employees experience being valued for their unique contributions and involved in decisions that affect their work. Another UK – focused qualitative study of Allied Health Professions support workers, published in BMJ Leader (2024), found that feeling valued requires three distinct elements:

empowerment (having control and influence), belonging (feeling included and accepted), and recognition (acknowledgment of skills and expertise).

Critically, support workers could feel welcomed yet still lack the sense that they matter through having tangible impact. When support workers lacked mattering, both physical and mental wellbeing deteriorated, with increased stress, reduced motivation, and considerations about leaving.

What Mattering Looks Like

Mattering comprises three essential experiences. Employees need to feel:

Noticed: Acknowledged by others and seen as individuals with unique contributions
Affirmed: Validated for their specific skills, expertise, and the quality of their work
Needed: Confident that their presence is essential and their absence would be felt

These elements extend beyond SCARF’s original dimensions. Relatedness captures whether we feel safe with others – friend rather than foe. Status addresses our relative importance in the hierarchy. But mattering operates at the intersection of these domains, asking whether our individual contribution has genuine significance.

Introducing SCARF-M: A Framework for Significance

Our SCARF-M model adds Mattering as either a sixth dimension or as a meta-dimension that integrates the others:

  • Status: Relative standing and recognition
  • Certainty: Predictability and clarity
  • Autonomy: Control and choice
  • Relatedness: Social connection and safety
  • Fairness: Equitable treatment
  • Mattering: Significance through being noticed, affirmed, and needed

Why add a sixth element when mattering clearly overlaps with existing dimensions? Because the Bradford study found that mattering enhances both self-determination and wellbeing – it doesn’t merely make us feel worthy (self-esteem) but also capable (self-efficacy). This dual impact suggests mattering captures something significant, yet missing from the existing SCARF dimensions.

Practical Applications for L&D

Reframe your Relatedness interventions: Move beyond team-building exercises that create connection by placing emphasis on managers explicitly acknowledging how their team members’ specific contributions have advanced goals. IES research emphasises that the line manager has a critical role in fostering employees’ sense of involvement and value.

Elevate Status beyond hierarchy: Help employees increase their sense of mattering through recognition of distinctive expertise rather than just hierarchical position. The Allied Health Professions study found that support workers often referred to themselves as “just a support worker” when their expertise wasn’t recognised—yet when it was they felt valued, and thrived.

Create visibility of impact: The IES model identifies that employees need to understand how their work connects to organisational objectives. Develop tools that help employees see their contribution to mission, simultaneously addressing Certainty (clarity about purpose), Autonomy (understanding one’s sphere of impact), and Mattering.

Address fairness through reflecting mattering across the board: The Engage for Success 2024 UK survey reveals a striking divide:

  • 40% of UK employees work in organisations where they perceive people issues are prioritised at all levels and show 77% engagement
  • Another 40% – in organisations where they perceive people issues to be neglected – engagement levels are at a much lower 45%

So design interventions ensuring all organisational members – regardless of role or level – can experience being noticed, affirmed, and needed.

The Business Case for SCARF-M

The IES research established clear business benefits: engaged employees demonstrate belief in the organisation, willingness to go the extra mile, understanding of the bigger picture, and respect for colleagues. Engagement correlates with improved performance, innovation, retention, and employee wellbeing.

Data from Perceptyx’s 2025 research shows European engagement is below the global average and declining since the 2021 pandemic peak. The research identifies that employees increasingly focus on whether they feel valued and whether their organisations support their wellbeing. When Status, Certainty, Autonomy, Relatedness, and Fairness appear adequately addressed but engagement remains stubbornly low, the missing element is likely significance.

The SCARF-M framework doesn’t contradict Rock’s original model – it deepens and extends it, revealing that human brains’ social needs operate not just at the level of safety and hierarchy, but at the fundamental level of existential significance. For managers and L&D professionals seeking to move the needle on engagement, retention, and performance, mattering may be the missing piece your programmes need.