Multi-national companies have turned to charities in a bid to discover how to create highly-motivated staff.

The Career Innovation Group, an Oxford-based alliance of international blue-chip companies including Unilever, BP and UBS, wants to discover why charity workers and people starting their own business are so inspired, despite their low salaries.

In the light of the global economic slow-down, the survey will look at entrepreneurial start-ups, Non-governmental organisations and charities - including Oxfam, based in Banbury Road, Oxford - as part of a project to identify what it takes to be an "inspiring company".

A recent Gallup survey reported that less than a quarter of workers are "fully engaged" in their work, costing the US economy $300bn per year (£50bn in the UK), said survey director, Prof Charles Jackson.

He said: "The cost of failing to engage people's hearts and minds is huge. This damages performance whatever the economic climate, but in tough times people's commitment is really put to the test.

"We have found in our initial research that companies with a strong sense of purpose can carry people through tough times. Loyalty to a cause, and to colleagues, are still valuable commodities."

The survey - titled Inspiration at Work - aims to discover what it takes to ignite the kind of motivation and loyalty often reserved for a start-up or charitable cause.

The researchers will ask how people feel about the purpose of their organisation and what motivates them in their work.

Using a confidential Internet-based questionnaire and a series of focus groups, led by Prof Jackson, Career Innovation aims to identify what it takes to be an "inspiring company", combining clarity of purpose and scale of impact with a culture of innovation and enterprise.

Jonathan Winter, of Career Innovation, based in Park End Street, said: "We are inviting people to take part in the research via business schools, companies etc and hope the university will invite the Oxford business alumni to take part."

Initial research results will be debated at a gathering of senior leaders and human resources innovators near in Paris in November.