It is not unusual for organizations to conduct annual or semi-annual engagement surveys to get feedback from their workforce. They are intended to gauge the level of employee satisfaction, organizational leadership and work environment. Results of engagement surveys can be useful to management in identifying areas that need improvement. When results are communicated with employees and acted upon in a systematic and constructive way, positive organizational changes can occur.
Yet, engagement surveys do not tell the entire story. There are always employees who feel disconnected with their work, bosses and/or organization. For whatever reason, the “marriage” between the employee and employer is failing. As with any partnership, both participants must be interested in making the relationship work, or it is probably going to end up in a split. Organizational “divorces” can be amicable or nasty. Neither is particularly fun and alters the life of the departing employee and culture of the organization they are leaving. Hopefully, the change is positive for both parties.
For organizations, some signs surface that indicate an employee is not engaged with his or her job. These might include increased absenteeism, tardiness, missed assignments, lack of participation at meetings or increased defensiveness. They might become argumentative or exhibit a decrease in job performance. Sometimes, employees who exhibit these characteristics may not realize they are ”showcasing” a dissatisfaction with their work to co-workers or managers. But, deep down inside, they wish they had a different boss or place of employment.
So, if some of the following symptoms describe how you’re feeling, perhaps it is time to reevaluate your commitment to your job and workplace.
• TGIF — You hate Mondays, have hope on Wednesdays (“hump day”) and are thrilled when Fridays arrive. Basically, you are living for two out of every seven days.
• Unhappy — You feel consistently unhappy at work and can’t wait for your workdays to end.
• Complaining — You find yourself complaining quite frequently about work to co-workers and those who you think are your “confidants.”
• Happy when your boss is on vacation — When you are happy your boss is out of the office, this should be a big sign that things are not going well at work.
• Apathetic — You find yourself caring less about your organization, work or co-workers. Easy tasks become harder to accomplish, and you find yourself having to expend a great deal of energy just to complete basic work. Your heart is just not into your job. The excitement you may have once had for your organization and work is gone.
• Everyone but you sees it — J.C. Watts, an American politician, said: “Character is doing the right thing when nobody’s looking.” What dictates whether people are truly engaged, and what is seldom covered in engagement surveys, is what they do when nobody is around to witness their performance.
Fully engaged employees are the ones who love, understand and believe in what they are doing. And they do so without regard to witnesses or close supervision.
Remember that doing the right thing at work when nobody’s watching sometimes is the difference between being a person of character or being considered a “character” by your boss and/or co-workers.
• Faking it — If you are truly disengaged with your job and workplace, there may be a tendency to go through the motions with the goal being to do just enough to not get fired. Unless you are a really good actor, faking your work will eventually be noticed by all.
I believe that most people want to be happy both at and outside of work. The research is clear that job satisfaction and happiness are not necessarily aligned with money, good performance reviews or promotions. These are all important and reflections of a job well done, but sustained happiness on the job comes from within — you feel like you are at the right workplace, doing the right job and are making a difference. You enjoy your co-workers, love the work environment, and believe in the company’s purpose or mission. When that happens, you do not need your actions to be witnessed to work hard and do the right thing because the person in the mirror knows you are fully engaged.
This is your life. You have options when it comes to work. You can find the right job and organization for you where you can be happily “married.” Conversely, accepting anything less than optimal job satisfaction results in you quitting (on yourself) and staying in a bad situation. The choice seems obvious.
