I believe that Shawn Murphy is right. Employees who are engaged in their work, are satisfied, have a sense of wellbeing, have purpose, feel they are doing meaningful work, and have a belief they can be successful in their jobs, are more likely to achieve positive business outcomes than employees who are unhappy in their work. The problem is that there doesn’t appear to be evidence to back up this assertion.

All of the well-publicized research on this relationship is correlational and, therefore, we don’t know which is causing which or if other factors (such as leadership, organizational structure, R&D, etc.) are more important than employee happiness. In an opinion piece for the NY Times titled, Why You Hate Work, the authors report results from an employee survey they did with the help of Harvard Business Review. The authors observe:

Engagement — variously defined as “involvement, commitment, passion, enthusiasm, focused effort and energy” — has now been widely correlated with higher corporate performance.  

A 2012 global survey by Towers Watson found a high correlation between “happy” employees and a company’s profitability. Gallup does a survey of companies every few years and consistently reports a …well-established connection between employee engagement and nine performance outcomes: 

  1. customer rating
  2. profitability
  3. productivity 
  4. turnover (for high-turnover and low-turnover organizations)
  5. safety incidents
  6. shrinkage (theft)
  7. absenteeism
  8. patient safety incidents
  9. quality (defects)

These are impressive studies that suggest but do not confirm a causal link. A highly plausible alternative explanation is that doing well on some or all of these performance outcomes causes (or, at least, contributes to) employee engagement and happiness. Like me, I’m sure you know companies that have been productive and profitable while having a high-turnover workforce that is quite unhappy with work conditions. Or you know companies that have what appear to be wonderful work conditions but have failed to be profitable and sustainable.

Let me be clear. It’s logical that high engagement, what Rich Sheridan calls “joy”, helps companies achieve success. Some company stories would seem to support this conclusion. However, at this point, that is a hypothesis that has not been proven.

If you have evidence to the contrary, please let me know in a comment below.

Written by Stephen J. Gill of TypePad

Recently Published

Key Takeaway: Recent neuroscience research suggests that popular strategies to control dopamine are based on an overly narrow view of its function. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter in the brain that tracks reactions to rewards, such as food, sex, money, or answering a question correctly. There are many types of dopamine neurons located in the uppermost […]
Key Takeaway: NASA’s independent study team released a report on UFOs, describing them as UAPs (unidentified anomalous phenomena) to move beyond the stigma associated with UFOs. The report found no evidence that reported UAP observations are extraterrestrial. The report also highlighted the need for transparency and reducing the stigma associated with UFOs. The study team […]

Top Picks

Key Takeaway: George Bernard Shaw referred to Ebenezer Howard’s “garden cities” concept in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, which he believed would offer the advantages of town and country without the drawbacks. Recently, a Silicon Valley consortium called Flannery Associates purchased land for California Forever, a contentious project that echoes Howard’s ideas. Howard’s […]
Key Takeaways: Starfield, a highly anticipated video game, allows players to build their own character and spacecraft, travel to multiple planets, and follow multiple story arcs. The game’s interactive music uses a palette of musical language that cultivates a contemplative soundscape, launching the listener into the vastness of space while remaining curious, innocent, and restrained. […]
Key Takeaway: The concept of “nudge theory” has gained prominence 15 years after its 2008 book, “Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth and Happiness.” The book, which inspired politicians like Barack Obama and David Cameron, led to the creation of government teams to incorporate nudge theory into public policy. However, the success of these nudges […]
Key Takeaways: Nanotechnology is set to revolutionize clothing, transportation, and transportation. Clothing will be tailored to individual needs, with synthesizers in closets creating clothing that fits perfectly. Nanosuits, made of 5 microns thick fabric, will cover the wearer’s body, allowing separate holes for individual hairs and making them weightless. This technology will double the amount […]

Trending

I highly recommend reading the McKinsey Global Institute’s new report, “Reskilling China: Transforming The World’s Largest Workforce Into Lifelong Learners”, which focuses on the country’s biggest employment challenge, re-training its workforce and the adoption of practices such as lifelong learning to address the growing digital transformation of its productive fabric. How to transform the country […]

Join our Newsletter

Get our monthly recap with the latest news, articles and resources.

Login

Welcome to Empirics

We are glad you have decided to join our mission of gathering the collective knowledge of Asia!
Join Empirics