Employee engagement, "flow" and how to retain your talent
A key to retaining talent is helping your employees find engagement with their work.
Employee engagement has become somewhat of a buzzword in recent years as businesses try to find the secret for retaining workers in an increasingly competitive economy. While there are many definitions for employee engagement floating around, the Society for Human Resource Management defines it as follows:
- Employees show physical energy while completing their work.
- Employees are emotionally connected to their work and feel inspired by what they do.
- Employees are fully immersed in their work and forget about everything else.
This last point is most interesting - the state of complete immersion in a task is a phenomenon that some of us have experienced. Sometimes we’ll look up from our work and realize that a couple of hours have passed in what seems like the blink of an eye.
This immersion in satisfying work is also known as “flow”, a psychological concept first developed by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, a Hungarian-American psychologist. According to Csikszentmihalyi, “flow” is the state of mind found when a person:
- Is working on a task that is doable and not beyond their skill level
- Is able to focus sufficiently on that task
- Has a clear and achievable goal
- Receives feedback immediately that they are making positive progress
- Makes decisions with confidence and without worrying
- Has a sense of control over themselves and the task
- Can suspend their self-consciousness (their perception of themselves or sense of self)
- Has temporarily lost track of time
Based on this description, flow sounds a lot like expertise. When someone becomes an expert, they can execute tasks that match their level of mastery with ease. Furthermore, they feel a sense of accomplishment when the task is completed that Csikszentmihalyi says could be the secret to happiness.
These conditions are difficult to meet. It’s no wonder that businesses are having a hard time keeping their employees engaged if one of the requirements for true engagement is finding this state of “flow.”
While it can be nearly impossible to induce a state of flow every day or in every employee, there are some things you can do to help employees find flow in their jobs.
Match skill level with difficulty
If employees are being tasked with responsibilities that do not match their level of expertise, they will never be fully engaged in their work.
When employees are highly skilled and being asked to perform tasks with low difficulty levels, they will quickly become bored and lose interest. If employees are bored, they can never feel inspired by what they do.
When employees with lower skill levels are tasked with highly difficult jobs, they will become anxious and stressed. This can lead to burnout and higher levels of employee turnover for your business.
The key is to match your employees’ skill levels to the work they are completing. Of course this is easier said than done since the realities of the office, especially small businesses, mean that people may need to wear many different hats.
However, you can make it easier to match skills and responsibilities by giving your employees input and some level of control over their own job functions. This kind of flexibility can help them realize what they are most passionate about, where their skills lie and how to best use those skills on their job.
This also means recognizing when employees are out of their depth and can’t complete their responsibilities without high levels of stress.
Set and communicate clear expectations
The second thing you can do to help your employees be more engaged is to be intentional about the way you set goals. Goals need to be:
- Clear, so your employees understand what is expected of them and what constitutes success
- Achievable, not unrealistic pipe dreams
- Trackable, so employees can track their progress and success toward their goals
If you follow these guidelines, your employees should be more engaged.
Create a comfortable work environment
One of the keys to reducing employee stress is making sure your workspace is inviting. But a comfortable workspace can do more than just avoid the negative consequences of stress. A well-constructed and thoughtful office environment can help employees focus and find that state of flow.
Constant distractions from noise can break employee focus. It’s also difficult to suspend awareness of your body if you’re too cold, too hot, sitting in an uncomfortable chair or squished in a too-small desk.
Think carefully about how your office is laid out to make sure you are optimizing quiet and focus in at least some areas.
If you are having trouble retaining workers, boosting employee engagement may be the key to solving your problems. If you need help in hiring, read more about recruitment techniques here.