Do You Hate Work?

A recent Sunday New York Times featured an article titled ‘Why You Hate Work’. You might have been offended by this assumption because the article claimed that you aren’t excited about your job, don’t like what you do, don’t feel appreciated and find it hard to complete important tasks. Maybe this doesn’t describe you exactly but there are sufficient statistics that prove people who love their jobs may be in the minority. According to a recent Insightlink normative study, just over half of employees across America are actively engaged at work. Many employees say they have no sense of community, no sense of positive overall energy and no idea how to be successful at work.

The skeptics amongst us must wonder if this is really true and if there really are that many unhappy people going to work every day.

One statistic that is tough to ignore relates to engagement. Can you believe that only one-half of American employees feel engaged at work? That’s like saying for every person who feels engaged and motivated by their job, another one doesn’t.

If you look up the definition of engagement this is what you’ll find: “Employee engagement is a workplace approach designed to ensure that employees are committed to their organization’s goals and values, motivated to contribute to organizational success, and are able at the same time to enhance their own sense of well-being”. We think these employees feel connected to their organization and proud of what it does, no matter what industry it represents.
Maybe you are committed to your organization’s goals and values. Maybe you are motivated to contribute to your organization’s success and maybe you are able to enhance your own sense of well-being. Well, you are fortunate indeed because 40% of American workers feel the exact opposite and say they aren’t committed, aren’t motivated and aren’t able to enhance their sense of well-being. It is amazing that American companies can stay in business when this many employees feel so disillusioned and unhappy.
How can employee engagement be encouraged? How do you go from being at the bottom to the top? The authors of this article suggest:

Renewal. Frequent breaks increase focus, creative thinking, and feelings of health and well-being. And a supervisor who encourages frequent breaks nearly doubles the chances an employee will stay with the company.

Value. Supervisors are key to employees feeling valued. Not surprisingly, supervisors have the greatest impact on employees’ sense of trust and safety within the organization. And employees with a supportive supervisor are more engaged and more likely to stay with the company.

Focus. Providing an opportunity for employees to focus on one task at a time increases engagement. Obviously, employees feel pulled in many directions at once with demands coming from throughout the organization, but allowing them to really focus drives engagement.

Purpose. Employees who derive meaning and significance from their work are more than three times as likely to stay with their organization than the average employee. Finding ways to connect employees with the mission and vision of the company and helping them see exactly how they can contribute goes a long way toward having engaged workers.

These four factors make intuitive sense and most are frequently named as the key drivers of employee engagement. Still, the toughest part is figuring out what you can do in your workplace to drive engagement. You probably need to spend some time and money to figure it out. Organizations can change this if they want to but they have to know, statistically and factually, exactly what the engagement level is in their workplace. They have to know if they are at the very bottom quartile, for example, before they start making changes and that is why an Employee Survey can often be the best first step. With only half of the employees in America feeling engaged there’s plenty of room for improvement. With the impact engagement has on business it’s hard to argue against making the investment and making it a priority.

A well-designed employee survey can help you improve employee engagement. At Insightlink our Employee surveys give you the insight you need to create change. We can help you find out how your employees feel about their experience at your organization so you can begin to make changes that will benefit your employees and your organization.