An oft cited Gallup survey on employee engagement highlights that, world-wide, only 13% of the employees are ‘engaged’ in their work. The term ‘Engagement’ is variously understood as being indicative of job satisfaction, employees being emotionally invested in their work, their willingness to deploy discretionary effort (to use a military term - willingness to go beyond the ‘call of duty’), their willingness to endorse the firm as a good place to work etc. Most studies indicate that increased employee engagement leads to better business results.
The benefits of having people engaged in their work are obvious. Most organisations now understand that engagement is not a HR initiative that managers need to be reminded of once a year, but a strategic initiative to achieve superior business results. Firms invest considerable effort, time and resources in commissioning engagement surveys, in training managers on engagement and organising team off-sites in a bid to enhance engagement. Despite all this, the low engagement levels among the employees has held steady for many years.
Some, but not an exhaustive list, of the measures that help enhance engagement would include - communicating clear goals, transparency, regular feedback, quality work, fair compensation policies, career development opportunities and employee-line manager/employee-organisation/employee-peers relationships.
Together with the above factors, when there exists a work culture that is ‘happy’, engagement is considerably reinforced. Culture is defined as the environment in which the employees work. Culture is determined by the values and practices shared by the members of a group. A firm’s culture defines the ‘personality’ of the firm. A firm could have the personality of a bully or a culture of managing through fear. Expectedly, in such a firm, engagement is low, productivity poor and employee turnover high. Conversely, almost as a corollary, a firm with a ‘happy’ culture delivers higher levels of productivity and experiences lower turnover.
A happy workplace is not one where everyone is constantly cracking jokes, or constantly being witty. A happy work place can be identified by the absence of fear and healthy inter-personal relationships. Relations between peers is characterised by fair competition and the relationship with superiors and juniors distinguished by openness.
However, strangely, most workplaces are unhappy and uptight - the leading cause for low engagement. Why are the workplaces so?
Among people in most workplaces, there exists an apprehension that appearing relaxed might signal a non-serious attitude to work. People with a solemn and dour demeanour are often perceived as being more competent.
Competence is difficult to assess objectively. Therefore, in order to get ahead - people often resort to using stand-ins for competence. A solemn demeanour is commonly perceived to signal competence.
Not surprisingly, workplaces that encourage people to be themselves, boast of greater engagement. People shouldn’t feel the need to use stand-ins to prove their competence. It is the responsibility of the leaders to foster such an environment at work. Several studies on leadership indicate that the two most desirable traits in leaders are a strong work ethic and a good sense of humour. Companies such as Airbnb, Southwest Airlines, Intel and Google have a widely recognised record of encouraging people to be themselves. These firms champion a ‘happy’ work culture and use it to help brand themselves. This helps them attract and retain the best talent that translates to building a great product or a service thereby drawing more and more customers.
People spend a major part of their waking hours at work. It is therefore reasonable to expect that only a happy work place will induce them to work harder and better. A happy culture helps relieve stress, encourages cooperation, boosts morale, builds trust and creates a fertile environment for innovation.
Creating a happy workplace where employees can be themselves requires enlightened leadership. Leaders need to convincingly and consistently demonstrate objectivity, openness and fairness in all their interactions. Such traits are contagious and will stimulate reciprocation from the employees via greater enthusiasm and greater productivity.