Employee Engagement - The Phrase I Promised I'd Never Use Again

Someone sent me an article on this topic to link to -- here was my response:

Thanks for sharing. Since this is the field I work in ...I am very conflicted about this concept and it's kind of a "pet peeve" ... I actually don't use it anymore. Because I think it's not helpful, confusing, no one has the same definition and it's splitting hairs. Read the rest here...

As someone who has also worked on the individual career coaching side... work satisfaction is something I am tuned into as well... That view is reflected in this piece on LinkedIn.

https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/eh-hem-employee-engagement-begins-joann-corley/

My expertise is human behavior...and I like to focus on 2 things in business - results and reality and there are so many variables depending on the person, job type, boss, industry, company culture. The reality is no one will be "fully engaged" all the time and this topic is not practically relevant for many types of employment situations (e.g. lower wage jobs...where money does matter to satisfaction).

Many of my clients are happy if their employees are happy, have good retention, and here is the key -- can achieve the best business driving results with the reality of their employee population.

Finally-- since it's a manufactured issue in our industry - HR - there is a lot of published info about this that just doesn't make sense if one truly understands the nuances of human behavior and the influencers that affect how a human feels and responds to life from one day to the next.

And of note, while many surveys reflect money to not be an issue...just think about it - if it wasn't why is Equal pay an issue and why are folks protesting to raise the minimum wage?

How about we stop torturing and distracting ourselves with something that cannot be fully understood or adequately measured. #justsayin