Reimagining Employee Engagement for the Modern Workplace

Turning Quiet Quitting into a Loud Commitment

Reimagining Employee Engagement for the Modern Workplace

?Many are talking about “quiet quitting” with the inference that employees no longer care, they have just given up. Not only have they quit on the job, but they have also executed this so quietly without anyone noticing that “the lights are on, and no-one is at home”.

Revised Shifting Landscape:

I have been working in the employee engagement field for more than thirty years and have seen terminology like this come and go. We've gone from "job satisfaction" to "employee experience" (EX, which can also mean "exit" if we're not careful!).

I believe people genuinely want to have enriching and productive experiences of work. I find terms like quiet-quitting offensive. So instead, let's talk about how we can encourage employees to make a loud and vibrant commitment to their work instead.

The starting point is understanding the difference between and drivers for compliance effort (doing the job) vs. discretionary effort (going the extra mile). The latter is what enables companies to reap the rewards of engagement in terms of increased productivity, increased effectiveness, reduced absenteeism, improved retention, improved customer satisfaction.

Compliance effort is about the applied capability, utilising knowledge, skills, and experiences to get the work done and meet expected performance expectations. Discretionary effort on the other hand, is borne from intangibles like passion, inspiration, aspiration, motivations, values, purpose and drive and ambition. Those magic ingredients that make us truly unique and differentiate one employee from the next.

?Compliance effort can be expected fairly and reasonably from an employee. People get paid a salary, so it is only fair that they deliver on work expectations. But in an increasingly uncertain and complex world with technological disruptions, social and demographic factors driving changing expectations of work, increasing fragmentation of traditional employment models; then is it still reasonable for employers to expect 100% effort or indeed “to bring their whole self to work”.?

?Over-grown expectations

We are in a world of increasing expectation from all sides.

?We are living longer so we are expected to:

·????? Work longer to fund our lifestyle.

·????? Care for parents and children at the same time.

Our businesses need to more competitive and profitable, so we are expected to:

·????? Work agilely!

·????? Work smarter with fewer resources yet not burn out!

·????? Return to the office from more flexible hybrid work.

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We are working in an age of technological disruption, so we are expected to:

·????? Have a growth mind set.

·????? Unlearn old ways of working.

·????? Upskill to stay current and employable.

·????? Be more resilient.

·????? Learn continuously over our lifetime.

Our society is undergoing upheaval, and we are expected to:

·????? Manage our mental health!

·????? Fund increased mortgage, rental, insurance payments.

·????? Maintain and invest in family and other relationships to build intangible assets.

?This expectation list could continue but let’s not. It is exhausting thinking about it.? A focus on employee engagement is just as important as ever.? The job of leaders is to create the compelling platform and coaching to entice and elicit discretionary effort. To create a loud commitment towards enriching the experience of work and creating a more vibrant and energised culture where people willingly go above and beyond.

Ready to reignite discretionary effort and boost your bottom line? Our 5 key strategies will help you create a thriving workplace culture that reduces turnover, increases productivity, and keeps your employees engaged.

1.??????? Discover the why in your business. Why does your business do what it does? What is it about what you do, or the fundamental problem your business solves that inherently motivates people to align their effort and contribute more of themselves?

2.??????? Entice rather than expect. Create a culture of giving, recognition, appreciation, gratitude to encourage and motivate people to choose to give more. Rather than treating people like cogs in a machine, expecting them to work harder and longer, in an increasingly pressurised and demanding work environment.

3.??????? Develop leaders who care. Leaders who care enough about people to take human centred approaches in their decision making. Leaders who coach and mentor, tapping into and leveraging talent intangibles like passion, curiosity, drive, and aspirations.

4.??????? Go beyond engagement surveys!

a.??????? Encourage self-awareness and hold individuals responsible for improving their own experience of work as well as navigating their career mobility options.

b.??????? Hold managers accountable for having meaningful conversations with their employees about what matters most to the employee and specifically about career, engagement, and experience of work.

5.??????? Enable discretionary space. Effort equates to space. Give employees autonomy, flexibility, career mobility, and development opportunities so that people have both the capability and capacity to be more engaged at work!

?At Because we specialise in individualised approaches to engagement and have innovative developed tools and programs to facilitate these things.? If you would like to know more than contact Pamela Frost at [email protected] or reach out to her through LinkedIn www.dhirubhai.net/in/pamelamfrost