Year beginning and how is your engagement at work?
For many people, the beginning of the year is a positive and right time to set goals and plan for the next months. However, what to do if you return to the routine of a job that does not give you satisfaction?
This situation is probably the reality of 85% of workers in the world. According to Gallup’s survey, only 15% of the world’s 1 billion full-time workers are enthusiastic about their work. According to this data, we can conclude that we are going through a period of a global crisis in employee engagement.
Companies are already aware that professionals who align their goals with those of their organisation are seeing their engagement grow because they find meaning in their work. And commitment is something that needs to be continuously renewed through practices of reconnecting the professional with his purpose. Engaging at work can be accomplished in different ways, such as incentives to develop new skills and competencies, encouraging self-knowledge, confidence building, and alignment of personal purpose with the organisational, creating a connection with its meaning.
We can take as an example the famous visit of former U.S. President John F. Kennedy to NASA’s space centre in 1962. During the visit, the president noticed a cleaner carrying a broom. He interrupted the tour, walked up to the man and said, “Hi, I’m Jack Kennedy. What are you doing here?” The cleaner said, “Well, Mr President, I’m helping to put a man on the moon.”
Although it’s nothing new, research indicates it’s becoming increasingly important for employees to incorporate the meaning of the company into their jobs. And for that to happen, they say, your organisation must have a clear purpose and the doors open to show it.
And given that 35% of the workforce will consist of the Millennial Generation by 2020 — and another 24% will be Generation Z workers — it’s time to start abandoning the negative epithets and beginning to embrace the assets of that generation at work.
An excellent example of a compelling corporate culture that allows employees to deliver the company’s purpose is the Ritz-Calton hotel chain. The company offers its employees a budget to solve customer problems, thus creating a consistently high consumer experience, resulting in greater loyalty and attraction to new consumers.
Jeff Hargett, senior director of The Ritz-Carlton Leadership Center, believes that employee engagement — and the byproduct of the customer’s excellent experience — is critical to reducing costs and increasing revenue. According to him, “Social media has expanded the voice and reach of the consumer. That means you need your customers and employees to be engaged and passionate about your brand and experience”.
Increasingly, the market is evolving to understand that it’s no longer enough to be an expert in your product or service. Today, businesses must put people at the heart of their strategy and then develop the best solutions focused on them. According to FJORD Trends 2020, people are putting companies under pressure to pursue successes in more life-enhancing ways than financial results. As they start to re-evaluate their role in society, the corporate world is switching focus from digital transformation to purpose transformation. Above all, companies are made of people and a brilliant strategy is useless without a purpose supported by a bold culture to make the magic happen.
by Larissa Menocci e Luiza Arcuschin — Dream Facilitation
