Consistency Over Engagement?

WORKER CONSISTENCY

A hot topic these days is employee engagement and what employees can do to give more to their jobs. However, a new study is saying not to focus on engagement and focus on consistency. In this newsletter we are breaking down what this means.

ENCOURAGE WORKER CONSISTENCY, NOT PERSONAL INVESTMENT

"In a rush to improve engagement and productivity, employers may be overlooking one human factor: inconsistency, according to a new study from researchers at the MIT Sloan School of Management.

Numerous factors could play into individual engagement, such as an employee’s personality or responsibilities outside of work. To get the best out of their employees, managers should set realistic goals for engagement based on the individual, the researchers said.

“A lot of the narrative these days is around trying to get employees to invest more of themselves in their jobs to extract higher performance,” Basima Tewfik, the lead study author and an assistant professor of work and organization studies at MIT Sloan, said in a statement.

“But this may not be a healthy approach,” she said. “Sometimes, you just can’t give more of yourself to your job. You’re depleted.”

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TO TRULY BOOST PRODUCTIVITY, FOCUS ON CONSISTENT WORKER ENGAGEMENT

"Engaged employees are productive employees, but even the most committed workers can’t be 100% physically, emotionally, and mentally invested in their jobs 100% of the time.

New research from MIT Sloan assistant professor Basima Tewfik explores the phenomenon of “engagement variability,” its impact on job performance, and its connection to a worker’s level of emotional stability. “The reality is, many of us ebb and flow in how engaged we are at work, no matter an organization’s work engagement efforts. We are not all consistently engaged at work,” Tewfik said. Given this fact, it’s important for managers to understand the impact of inconsistent engagement on employee performance."

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