07-29-2011, 07:14 AM
Engaged workers, those who approach their work with energy, dedication, and focus, are more open to new information, more productive and more willing to go the extra mile. Moreover, engaged workers take the initi-ative to change their work environments in order to stay engaged.
Job resources include social support, feedback, and opportunities for autonomy, variety, and growth. Such resources are good for the worker, they satisfy basic human need and are good for the workplace, because when job resources are rich, work gets done more quickly and with better results. The process, moreover, is recurring. Working better is more rewarding for the worker, which in turn increases their engagement and ef-fectiveness.
Interestingly, engagement and high quality performance are greatest when the demands of the job are highest. This principle applies even to what we think of as low-level jobs, such as those at a fast-food restaurant.
Employees' own personal resources, such as self-esteem and optimism, also contribute to work engagement. Not only do workers with abundant personal resources approach their jobs with more enthusiasm and joy; they also tend to be in better health, allowing them to focus and work hard. They tend as well to create more of all these goodies for themselves through "job-crafting," seeking ways to make their responsibilities "fit" their tal-ents and interests and to increase challenge. Again, the process is an upward spiral. Job crafters gain admira-tion from other workers, thus transferring their attitudes to them. Those more productive attitudes increase the other workers' engagement and with it, their own productivity and personal reward.
Work engagement differs from person to person, which helps account for the fact that some are leaders and others are followers. For each person, engagement also diminishes and flows from day to day, even hour to hour. Indeed, no one should expect to feel, or be expected to exhibit, peak engagement every second of the workday. Sometimes work is tedious; employees need to be able to tolerate that. Nor should they be held to impossible standards. Down time is not only a mark of sympathetic management. It helps renew workers, keeping them happy, productive and engaged[^]
Job resources include social support, feedback, and opportunities for autonomy, variety, and growth. Such resources are good for the worker, they satisfy basic human need and are good for the workplace, because when job resources are rich, work gets done more quickly and with better results. The process, moreover, is recurring. Working better is more rewarding for the worker, which in turn increases their engagement and ef-fectiveness.
Interestingly, engagement and high quality performance are greatest when the demands of the job are highest. This principle applies even to what we think of as low-level jobs, such as those at a fast-food restaurant.
Employees' own personal resources, such as self-esteem and optimism, also contribute to work engagement. Not only do workers with abundant personal resources approach their jobs with more enthusiasm and joy; they also tend to be in better health, allowing them to focus and work hard. They tend as well to create more of all these goodies for themselves through "job-crafting," seeking ways to make their responsibilities "fit" their tal-ents and interests and to increase challenge. Again, the process is an upward spiral. Job crafters gain admira-tion from other workers, thus transferring their attitudes to them. Those more productive attitudes increase the other workers' engagement and with it, their own productivity and personal reward.
Work engagement differs from person to person, which helps account for the fact that some are leaders and others are followers. For each person, engagement also diminishes and flows from day to day, even hour to hour. Indeed, no one should expect to feel, or be expected to exhibit, peak engagement every second of the workday. Sometimes work is tedious; employees need to be able to tolerate that. Nor should they be held to impossible standards. Down time is not only a mark of sympathetic management. It helps renew workers, keeping them happy, productive and engaged[^]