How to Achieve an Employee Culture of Smart Engagement

The Harvard Business Review (HBR) reported on a study performed on more than 1,000 U.S. employees. The purpose of this study was to compare the level of work engagement to employee burnout. 

The study is described as follows:

A recent <blockquote-link>study<blockquote-link> conducted by our center at Yale University, <blockquote-link>the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence<blockquote-link>, in collaboration with the Faas Foundation, has cast doubts on the idea of engagement as a purely beneficial experience. This survey examined the levels of engagement and burnout in over 1,000 U.S. employees. For some people, engagement is indeed a purely positive experience; 2 out of 5 employees in our survey reported high engagement and low burnout. These employees also reported high levels of positive outcomes (such as feeling positive emotions and acquiring new skills) and low negative outcomes (such as feeling negative emotions or looking for another job). We’ll call these the optimally engaged group. However, the data also showed that one out of five employees reported both high engagement and high burnout.

We normally believe that all employees who are highly engaged in their work are the most productive and happy. As the saying goes, do something that you love and you will never work a day in your life. The study found something interesting. While this holds true for 4 out of 5 employees surveyed, high engagement can lead to burnout for the remaining 20%. 1 out of 5 seems like great odds, but a culture that leads to the burnout of 20% of your very best employees can be problematic. 

HBR calls for a move towards Smart Engagement. This is a place where highly engaged employees are supported to prevent burnout. 

One key strategy to reduce burnout is to provide these employees with more resources. 

There is a lot of pressure built into many employee roles. The sales team has a quota they are reminded they must meet to keep their jobs. The accounting team needs to close the books every period and the FP&A team is always under pressure to deliver on critical assets such as the budget, plans, reports, analysis, and forecasts. Unfortunately, all too often the FP&A and accounting teams find themselves under-supported by their companies and lacking sufficient resources. An example could be the lack of a modern software platform to help with needed automation. 

Read the Full HBR Report

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