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Something to be Thankful for: Engaged Employees

I have a sneaking suspicion that my friends and family think I’m crazy. Now, there are many reasons as to why they may have been led to believe this, but lately it’s been centered around how much I love my job. It’s not hard for me to understand the confusion – especially when most of them see a job merely as means to a paycheck and are resigned putting their life “on hold” until the weekend.

Granted, this outlook isn’t shared by ALL of them but it’s clear the ones who feel this way are not alone…evidenced by recent the flood of articles and research reminding us that employee engagement is at an all time low. Working in a field that targets employee engagement and building a recognition culture within the workplace, this issue has been front and center for me and every time I read one of these articles it makes me reflect on Awards Network and give thanks that we have such engaged employees.

On average, most of us will spend about 90,000 hours at work in our lifetime and that is a LOT of time to spend on something you dislike or are even just ambivalent about. So the question is, what is it about a job that makes it more than just a paycheck? What are the factors that are most effective in engaging employees? A recent report from Towers Watson, “The Power of Three: Taking Engagement to New Heights” provides some insight by analyzing important job aspects relating to employee engagement such as ensuring your employees are Enabled and Energized.

Towers Watson describes enabled employees as having “a work environment that supports productivity and performance”. As an employee, the environment I work in has a huge effect on me. I’ve worked in places where everyone was stressed out and unhappy and even though I personally had no reason to share their anxiety, I experienced a type of emotional osmosis and went to work each day feeling ill and dreading having to hang on until 5pm. On the other hand, Awards Network encourages employees to share ideas and collaborate on ways to improve and grow the company and themselves on a daily basis. Empowering employees to contribute in this manner not only increases employee engagement but also has an obvious impact on the company’s success as the continual program development and company growth at Awards Network can attest to.

In addition to enabling your employees, it’s important to energize them…and I’m not just talking about the bottomless cups of coffee I enjoy every morning (and afternoon). According to Towers Watson, energized employees experience “individual, physical, social and emotional well-being at work”. What it comes down to for me is who makes up your team and how they impact your working environment. At Awards Network, every employee plays a major role in shaping the daily work atmosphere and I have never worked at an organization that had a stronger team. Having an entire team of engaged, enabled and energized employees makes every difference in the world and an office full of employees who offer assistance, ideas and support in any project they’re presented with will give your company an incredible advantage.

So this Thanksgiving, as I’m dutifully listing off all the things I’m thankful for (your mom still makes you do that too, right?), I will be counting our team of engaged employees for making Awards Network such an incredible place to work. And…I’d also like to mention that we’re hiring!

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