So many leaders worry about whether or not their employees are engaged at work.
But to them, I say: “Who cares? Your job as a leader isn’t to engage your employees with their jobs.”
It doesn’t matter to you whether or not your employees are engaged. Their job isn’t to feel connected to the company; it’s to put their heads down and get to work. Fretting about engagement scores and constantly having to get feedback and ideas from employees takes away time from them working.
Opening the gates to engagement makes employees want extra perks, which are distracting and expensive. Free lunches or on-site yoga doesn’t help employees do their jobs better! It just distracts them from what matters most–getting their work done and making money for the company.
If employees aren’t engaged, they’ll leave your company. Let them! There are better people out there, anyway. You don’t need an engagement survey to tell you someone isn’t a good fit. And just because someone is engaged doesn’t mean they will stay. Don’t stress about engagement because the results don’t matter anyway. People will come and go as they please, and engagement has nothing to do with it.
Plus, measuring employee engagement is practically impossible. Focusing too much on engagement and if employees are happy pulls you and your people away from doing their actual jobs. Don’t even try.
Even the Harvard Business Review points out all the flaws of employee engagement. “The correlation between engagement and performance outcomes is far from perfect, which means that many engaged individuals and teams are not delivering the results that leaders expect. By the same token, some leaders will find that their best performing teams are often amongst the least satisfied.” That sounds like caring about engagement is a waste of time because the system is so flawed.
No one cared about employee engagement until surveys were created in the 1970s. We spent centuries building empires and thriving companies without giving a second thought to if employees were “engaged” in their work. And guess what? Those companies and creations are still around today! Do you think the ancient Egyptians cared about employee engagement while building the great pyramids? I doubt it! And they made one of the longest-lasting and most impressive creations of all time.
My point is this: employee engagement doesn’t impact your company. If your employees know their responsibilities and get them done, that’s all that matters. Don’t be diverted by fluff and other people telling you that you need to give employees perks and care how they feel. You don’t! All that matters is that the work gets done.
Employee engagement is a passing fad. Don’t waste your time worrying about creating a place employees feel connected and supported. This isn’t summer camp!
As a leader, your job is to get results, not worry about things like happiness and satisfaction. Don’t get distracted by engagement–it doesn’t matter.
-The Outdated Leader
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Over the last 15 years, I’ve had the privilege of speaking and working with some of the world’s top leaders. Here are 15 of the best leadership lessons that I learned from the CEOs of organizations like Netflix, Honeywell, Volvo, Best Buy, The Home Depot, and others. I hope they inspire you and give you things you can try in your work and life. Get the PDF here.
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