The Personal Benefits of Employee Engagement

By Tracy Maylett Decisionwise CEO and Co-Author of "Swipe: The Science Behind Why We Don't Finish What We Start"

In our upcoming book "Swipe: The Science Behind Why We Don't Finish What We Start", journalist Tim Vandehey and I embarked on a research journey to understand the personal aspect of engagement.

?While numerous books and articles have been written about the benefits of engagement for organizations and their leaders, we discovered that very few employees understand how their engagement at work can positively influence their personal lives They might quite reasonably say, “I can see why my being engaged with my job helps my company. But what’s in it for me?” The answer is a lot.

The benefit of employee engagement to an organization is clear, and it shows up in various ways including increased profitability, greater productivity, improved efficiencies, higher quality, and myriad other factors. We also see it in decreased turnover, improved employee satisfaction, reduced employee-related legal expenses, safety, and general loyalty.

But why should an employee want to get on board with the whole engagement thing? Despite some of the doom-and-gloom statistics thrown at us to make us think 80% of our employees are about to bolt for the exists, most of us want to engage. We want to enjoy our work, to find meaning and satisfaction in it. It’s not our nature to wake up in the morning saying, “I hope today stinks.”

Our research found that not only should a workplace care about engagement, but there are also clear reasons every one of us should want to be engaged at work. Based on a DecisionWise analysis of over 100,000 survey responses, supported by numerous studies, there are sound personal benefits of employee engagement:

1. Better health. One study monitored a group of 168 engaged and disengaged workers at various intervals during a day to measure various health factors. Engaged workers reported lower stress levels, improved cholesterol, and blood pressure readings, whereas disengaged employees were twice as likely to be diagnosed with depression.[i]
2. Happiness. Engaged employees are more likely to say they are happy, and those who are happy are 12 percent more productive than those who aren’t.[ii] According to Shawn Achor, Harvard professor and author of The Happiness Advantage, “When we are positive, our brains become more engaged, creative, motivated, energetic, resilient, and productive at work.” Happy employees are nearly ten times more engaged in their work than their disengaged counterparts.?
3. Productivity, pay, and advancement. Engaged employees not only work harder but also work smarter and produce better results than their less engaged peers. This results in higher wages, more frequent and rapid promotions, and the ability to market themselves for better opportunities. According to Achor, when you are happy in your work, your productivity increases by 31 percent, and you are 40 percent more likely to receive a promotion.
4. Better home life. DecisionWise research shows that engaged employees are far more likely to be engaged outside work, resulting in a more fulfilling home life. Also, according to Achor, when you are engaged in life in general, you live longer, get better grades, experience less severe symptoms of illness, and are generally more content with life.

Engaging in your job is a crucial decision since most of us will spend one-third to one-half of our waking hours at work. Work is not just where we earn a paycheck. It’s often the center of our social relationships, the linchpin of our identities, and the venue where we turn our aspirations and ambitions into realities.

Our research for Swipe also found that those who disengage in the workplace are more likely to do so in other environments as well, whether that means turning away from important moments with family or dropping important personal goals.

This harms not only their professional prospects but their personal lives, the well-being of the colleagues who depend on them, and the stability of the organizations they work for.If we are disengaging in our work lives, odds are we are disengaging in other areas, whether we admit it or not.

Choosing to engage in your job is an important decision that can positively influence your personal life. So, would you rather spend that significant chunk of your life engaged with your work or cynical and discouraged? The choice is yours.

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Swipe: The Science Behind Why We Don’t Finish What We Start, by Tracy Maylett and Tim Vandehey, will be available online in bookstores on March 21, 2023. Swipe is available now for pre-order on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and at www.Swipethebook.com.

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[i] Rath, T., and Harter, J. K. (2010). Wellbeing: The Five Essential Elements. Gallup Press.

[ii] Oswald, Andrew J., Proto, Eugenio, and Sgroi, Daniel. (2015) “Happiness and productivity.” Journal of Labor Economics, 33(4). 789–822.

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