3 actions managers can take to ensure employees see their work as time well spent
This article was originally published on Fast Company.
Chris is in his mid-fifties, and he’s back in school. Trained as a film editor and with years of experience in movies and TV shows, Chris decided a few years back to make a major career change, so he’s taking classes at night and on weekends to become a licensed professional counselor. He wants to work with individuals who are struggling with addiction or mental health challenges. A big transition from editing films. One that requires him to work exhausting hours when others his age are coasting toward retirement. So, why is he willing to work harder for potentially less money?
Because the work is far more meaningful.
WORK AS TIME WELL SPENT
Over the past 20 years, we’ve interviewed and coached thousands of people. And like Chris, they all want to make a greater impact in life. Not surprising. They put a value on the time that they contribute to the work they do and they want to see that value go up. In good times or bad, time value for meaningful work is at a premium.
And so the question:
Would your employees see their work as “time well spent”?
Below are three actions that you can take immediately to determine how your employees see their time with you.
LEARN THE MODES THEY GET INTO
Leaders want their employees to be more productive. Employees want their work to be more meaningful. Your organizational crosshairs where time is productive and work is meaningful should be focused on the modes that your employees get into. A mode is a mindset and set of behaviors that people get into temporarily.
People manage their time today by getting into modes. Think about beast mode, daddy/mommy mode, and crisis mode. Now think about work. When we asked employees of a Fortune 100 company the work modes they get into, they shared the following: navigating, focused, mentoring, planning, deadline, juggling, learning, improving, catch-up, self-doubt, problem-solving, email, and crisis.
As you can tell from this employee-generated list of modes, some are positive and productive, while others are negative and debilitating. When you know the modes that your employees are getting into you get a very realistic sense for how they feel about their time at work and where they find meaning. The problem is not always the menial tasks they have to do or the workload. Sometimes it’s the design of the time that they spend doing their work. Modes can tell you a lot.
ASK THEM ABOUT TIME WELL SPENT
In most employee surveys, employers ask a wide range of questions—about benefits, ESG, culture, policies, and work productivity. What is often left off the list is how employees feel about the time they spend at work. Employers struggle to frame the questions in a way that yield helpful insights.
Our research has shown that three question categories can help you get an understanding of their experience.
Jobs to be done: Do employees feel that they can get functional, emotional, social, and aspirational needs (or jobs to be done) fulfilled?
Engagement: How much are employees enjoying their work?
Time value: Do they find value in the time that they spend doing their work?
When you get high scores on all three questions, you know they feel like the job is time well spent. You are likely to retain these employees.
PRACTICE MEANINGFUL MOTIVATION
The last principle is to practice meaningful motivation, which means motivating people through activities that fulfill them. In our research on meaningful motivation, positive thinking and inner peace are critical elements of motivation followed by specifics like time management, purpose, knowing where to start, and intentionality.
So, while a strong vision is important for motivation, helping staff have the confidence and the bandwidth to succeed is even more important. Understand what energizes and fulfills your employees and use that as your compass for measuring your success and understanding their engagement.
The pandemic and reduced commuting afforded people more time to pursue side hustles, night courses, and hobbies they hope will lead to profitable opportunities to learn and grow personally or make the world a better place. A return to the daily grind didn’t mean a full-stop on those extra activities, so people are working extra hours on things that pique their interest.
Others have redefined their ways of working as a result of the pandemic. They want to set their own terms, which often includes working from home, less administrative bureaucracy, more individual impact, and better work/life balance.
What all of these people have in common is limited time and a need to make that time as meaningful as possible. We want to spend our time doing work that matters. We want work to be ‘time well spent.
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