Research has consistently showed the importance of motivations, values and attitudes as key determinants of occupational behaviour, wellbeing and workplace satisfaction. However, these are often omitted from leadership discussions as they are deemed as ‘psychological variables’ which can’t be measured and therefore – how much can they really contribute to productivity?
This brings up an important consideration. Studies on job satisfaction have found that work performance may be more strongly predicted by wellbeing than by job satisfaction. This calls for a shift for organisational development initiatives to focus on wellbeing by unearthing the psychological variables which contribute to it.
Recent research has actually highlighted wellbeing as the degree to which one is ‘psychologically energised’ – so, what does this mean, and why is it important?
Employee wellbeing has received an increasing amount of attention for its importance, as employers now need to offer more than a shiny pay check to attract and keep the right people who are the right fit for their own company culture. They need to empower their people and provide safe and supportive work environments to enable their staff to flourish – and to actively demonstrate this day-in-day-out. There are three psychological states which are fostered for an employee to ‘flourish’ in an empowering workplace:
- When work is meaningful and enriching;
- When there is a responsibility to job outcomes; and
- There is a greater knowledge of shared results and outcomes.
We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again, hiring managers need to be placing more importance on a candidate’s attitude over their aptitude when hiring. When candidates are only motivated by extrinsic rewards (i.e., pay and bonuses), it’s unlikely they will ever consciously exercise the three psychological states, and it is unlikely they will feel a connection with the company enough to stay if a better offer is presented on an extrinsically-rewarded silver platter. So, if companies are looking to empower these three psychological states, they must offer the intrinsic rewards people look for to flourish in their wellbeing.
6 intrinsic factors of the work environment leading to greater job satisfaction
- Variety and challenge in work
- Ability to make decisions, exercise responsibility and personal control
- Good feedback – feedback which promotes growth and is cautiously critical
- Mutual support
- Meaning
- Room to grow and develop – and opportunity for skills to be used
If you have never heard about an EVP (Employer Value Proposition) or you have always struggled to understand its components – your answer is in these 6 factors. It is crucial to be offering each and every employee the tools, training and support to foster each of these factors.
Studies have attributed this type of workplace culture focus as ‘workplace spirituality’, which is characterised by meaningful work, community, purpose and transcendence of goals. These make a recipe for lowering stress and anxiety and increasing positivity, motivation, wellbeing and overall workplace satisfaction. We can begin to see how the 6 factors are embedded within the concept of workplace spirituality, which makes it an appropriate concept to focus your organisational development initiatives on.
While there are a multitude of other major elements which workplaces should be providing, such as competitive level of pay, safe working conditions, satisfactory social relationships and the ability for employees to achieve their personal goals, it is clear that workplace spirituality is the key to setting employees up to flourish with your business.
The first step to fostering this kind of culture is to really understand what it is your employees value, and simultaneously give them the opportunity to understand what it is they value themselves. At a high level, you can circulate some of these free tools below and have conversations between line managers and employees about the results:
At Peopleconnexion, we often come back to these types of tools to have conversations about the ways we work with each other, what we value and how our behaviours are shaped. These have been vital when considering how we work in a cross-cultural environment, and how our leaders can respond to varying personalities in the workplace.
Ultimately, however, companies need to invest in employee engagement measures to unearth personal but anonymous feedback on what your company is providing to employees, how it rates in the 6 factors, and uncover areas for improvement/focus. For more information on employee engagement surveys, check out our website page, https://www.peopleconnexion.com/training-and-development/px-engage/