Key for Decent Work: Employee engagement and progression

Often, satisfaction with a job comes from intrinsic value – whether you are a secretary of state in parliament or a cleaner in a hospital – people want to feel that their job has purpose and see clearly how they add value. As Dr Steve Peters commented: ‘When we have a sense of purpose in life it brings with it a sense of meaning and this in turn leads to achievement, satisfaction and wellbeing’ – all qualities identified with a good job.

Back to the issue of productivity raised earlier, disengaged employees may also be less committed to their work and less productive as a result. Researchers at Warwick University have found a link between wellbeing and productivity – with happier workers 12 per cent more productive than average and unhappy workers 10 per cent less productive.

The key starting point is connecting individual motivations with job design. In our work with employers across the public and private sectors, we find that too often organisations do not formally know very much about their employees’ motivations, goals and preferences, or take into account how these might change over time.

Better organisational data management can make an important contribution to improving the relationship between organisations and their employees, and as a result improve productivity. T

he jurors agreed and thought that employers should build up a more detailed profile of their staff, including their aspirations, skills details and motivations to work, which would help better allocate resources and skills sets to the different roles and responsibilities available in an organisation.

Source:

https://www.demos.co.uk/files/GoodJobs_essaycollection.pdf?1418312724