Employee Engagement: Why are You Working Here?

When work isn’t working

There are a plethora of different questions used to survey for employee engagement. During the past few weeks I have been reviewing surveys and responses  for various organizations. I pay close attention to the anecdotal responses and the written statements employees make on the survey. At times, I am genuinely surprised that the person responding even works for that company given their expressed views of the work and the organization. Don’t get me wrong, there are some companies I would not want to work for but I would immediately engage in steps to either change things from the inside or work hard on finding work elsewhere.

For some disengaged employees, it seems the belief is that the company, leadership, or management is responsible for their engagement and they are helpless. This is a challenging place to begin intervening in engagement when helplessness and hopelessness surround engagement, the people you work with are referred to as them, and you believe you are working with the enemy.  I firmly believe that disengagement should never be a punishable offence but a trigger for a conversation. I also believe employees are responsible for their own engagement while leadership/management are accountable to employees for the impact they have on an employee’s level of engagement.

We are not helpless, we are not victims, we don’t thrive with paternalism, we can change through conversation, collaboration and co-creation.

Engage along with me, the best is yet to be.

David Zinger is a global employee engagement expert who in 2013 has already done engagement work in Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Berlin, Prague and New York. Contact him today for education, speeches, consulting or coaching on engagement.