Do you think about your labor with love? Do you love (or even like) what you are doing? Do you find it meaningful?
Labor Day is a good time to reflect on this. Happiness and making progress on meaningful work impact our engagement levels.
When employees are not fully engaged in their jobs, they lack consistent performance, they are less productive and the quality of their work suffers.
The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index estimates the cost of employee disengagement in America at $300 billion in lost productivity annually.
Peoples’ perceptions, emotions and motivations impact engagement. This internal world affects creativity, productivity, commitment and collegiality.
When people feel happier they are much more likely to have new ideas, and will use their discretionary energy to further the company’s goals.
Making progress in meaningful work is an important factor that creates engagement. The value of moving forward is often underrated by managers when it comes to employee satisfaction.
As leaders we can connect the dots to reinforce the work’s meaning and significance. We can remove obstacles so that people can make progress and we can provide autonomy, resources and recognition.
Supporting meaningful progress at work is not just a labor of love. It is smart business!