Disengaged at Work? Your Personal Life Might Be Suffering, Too

As of July 31, 2017, Gallup will no longer measure employee engagement on a daily basis. Why? It’s a hopeless metric. After all, over the lifetime of this daily report, the percent of engaged employees at work hovers within a few percentage points of 34% — which is an alarmingly low number.

And why does engagement matter?

Research from Gallup and Imperative shows that people who are disengaged are actually detrimental to their teams and the business where they work. But here’s the thing… businesses seem to be doing just fine with their profitability and stock prices, even with this “global engagement crisis”.

The real risk of disengagement is on the per-person — and personal — level.

James K. Harter, Ph.D., Gallup’s Chief Scientist and coauthor of 12: The Elements of Great Managing shared that

There’s a significant relationship between work, stress, and health. In other words, if people are in an ongoing work situation that is negative or stressful, they have a higher potential for negative health consequences.”

In other words, if you’re not engaged at work, chances are you’re doing the opposite of that in your professional AND personal life. If you don’t love what you’re doing on a daily basis, your overall satisfaction in life is suffering as a result.

So what does make people thrive in their professional AND personal life?

The research-backed formula here is quite simple:

1. Find a job with a manager you admire and team respect
2. Do work that gives you purpose
3. Keep learning
4. Spend time with friends and family
5. Exercise and eat healthy
6. Be more altruistic

What’s shocking here is that 3 out of 6 (or 50%) of these factors are things you do (or don’t do) at work. Athough, considering the average working professional spends roughyl 1/2 of their waking hours at work, this metric isn’t that suprising.

Stop focusing on what TV show to watch, what vacation to take, who to hang out with, what house to buy, and what clothes to wear — start focusing on finding a job that makes you and the world better.

Seriously, being engaged at work — not just happy but actually engaged — will help you live longer.

Not sure where to start?

1. Set a goal, write it down, and tell a friend to hold you accountable (it works!)
2. Work with your company to adopt Purpose assessments
3. Adopt healthy habits in the workplace
4. Join a MovingWorlds Impact Team to tap into your leadership and purpose drivers through cohort-based learning and skills-based volunteering
5. Be more altruistic at home and a work
6. Keep networking — within and outside your company — with a Give & Take mindset to identify your best career opportunities

Have other ideas? Let me know in the comments below!