Page 199 - How America's Best Places to Work Inspire Extra Effort in Extraordinary Times

186B RE-ENGAGE

increase it. Many had assumed that if employees were satisfied, they
would also be more productive and stay longer.
Later research concluded, quite rightly, that enjoyment didn’t nec-
essarily equate to engagement, an outcome that we now know links
directly to productivity and retention. Job enjoyment might be neces-
sary for employee engagement, but is hardly sufficient. One dictionary
defines enjoyment as “the state of being satisfied; contentment.” Cows
are contented. Contentment may be the feeling you have after a huge,
carbohydrate-laden meal, but is that the kind of visceral emotion we
want our employees to feel about their work? This is not to say that
there is anything wrong with people being contented at work. Content-
ment is generally better than discontent. Our point is simply that we
can’t call it engagement. Some of the most engaged workers are actually
discontented and thus all the more driven to serve and achieve.
We propose that this driver is about job enrichment, a higher stan-
dard than simple satisfaction or enjoyment. When workers’ jobs are
enriched, workers tend to work harder, achieve more, and feel deeper
levels of commitment.

Overcoming the Tipping Point of 150: Job Enrichment and
Professional Growth in Larger Organizations

Among the advantages that often come with being em-
ployed at larger organizations are more training, more ad-
vancement opportunities, and more mentors to choose
from. However, as an organization grows larger, there may
be disadvantages as well:

: An employee’s job can become narrower, more special-
ized, and less satisfying.