Burnout, Employee Well-being, Recruiting
How you measure employee engagement can have profound consequences for well-being, according to new research.
Employees want their work to be meaningful, but can you have too much of a good thing?
Employees are two to six times more likely to stay with their organization long-term when they say their work is more than 鈥渏ust a job,鈥� according to 逸遊娛樂城庐 research. Meaningful work increases the likelihood that employees will have well-being.
Meaning, however, shouldn鈥檛 be mistaken for obsession with your work. Research has shown the importance of
In her view, these imprecise evaluations beg a question: 鈥淎re people just conflating extroversion with passion?鈥�
When not trying to assess body language, some managers can resort to other markers that encourage damaging behavior.
Vough gives examples: 鈥淚鈥檓 willing to work really long hours. I鈥檓 willing to not necessarily get paid. I鈥檓 willing to make these sacrifices.鈥�
Some managers even claim to be able to detect passion in an employee鈥檚 work product by looking at 鈥渁 building or plan that somebody draws up and tell whether they鈥檙e passionate or not.鈥�
The road to burnout
An overemphasis on passion can : harmonious and obsessive.
Obsessive passion, among other characteristics, is defined as an inability to step away from work and a rigidness in how work is pursued. Harmonious passion allows for more flexibility, where inspired employees can pursue areas of interest while maintaining other relationships and entertaining competing priorities.
Employers might value the passion of an employee, but the moment they demand it or incentivize it, they open the door to negative consequences.
Instead, employers should focus on creating high-trust workplaces where they harness workers鈥� harmonious passion, but refrain from putting pressure on workers to demonstrate their passion at every turn. Otherwise, you risk pushing talented, committed employees out of the organization 鈥� or even the industry.
鈥淚 had one architect in the first firm that I studied, who looked around at everybody and said, 鈥楾hey鈥檙e so passionate. I just wish I had that. I don鈥檛 have that.鈥欌�� Vough shares. 鈥淎nd he was thinking about leaving architecture despite finishing school and everything because he just didn鈥檛 feel like he had the passion everybody did.鈥�
In Vough鈥檚 opinion, those kinds of stories represent a loss for employers.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 a pity to lose a very competent person because they look around and everybody鈥檚 doing this performance of passion,鈥� she says.
Her advice: 鈥淗ave more objective criteria.鈥� Passion is a great thing for a workplace 鈥� but it鈥檚 not the only thing.
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