I LOVE a good quote, but more than a good quote, I love one that gets me thinking. I was sent the one above, "The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it", from a work colleague a few years ago, and I was conflicted on what I thought about it. Post pandemic, I have another lens to look through which has started my thinking that encouraging employees to bring more of their home life to their work could offer an advantage to leaders and employers. According to a 2017 Gallup poll, only 14% of Aussies and Kiwi’s were engaged at work, this factor increased up to a high of 20% in 2021 andthe recently released Stare of the Global Workplace report 2022, found that only 17% are now engaged at work. This indicates that the greatest hurdle to creating an engaged and flexible workforce is that Australians and New Zealanders are not engaged in their work and this has been the case well before the pandemic. We are one of only two regions (other being Western Europe) that despite high overall life evaluations, we have relatively low workplace engagements scores. Thus, the question must be asked. Is the reason that so many employees crave work life balance because their work life is so much more dissatisfying than their home life?
Research from Robert Walters shows that 67% of professionals in Australia are motivated by a good work life balance and the Australian Financial Review reports that around 70% of workers believed their productivity at home was the same or even higher than in the office. In 2022 the engagement score in our region dropped by 3%. Combining all this information I am interested…why are we not engaged in our work, and is it coincidence that the engagement levels dropped again when we moved back to the offices. How were we able to move to a remote working pattern so quickly without significant impact on productivity? It seems employees are dedicated to making remote working productive so they can spend more time in their life and less time in their work. The time saved in commuting is a clear win to employees who want to dedicate more time to “life endeavours.”
These musings led me to question the reasons why we are so much more engaged in home than work life. Certainly, COVID 19 has prompted many of us to revaluate our priorities. Earning the six figure salary, power walking like lemmings into our high story office buildings in order to earn enough money keep up with the Jones’ may have become less enticing. I was reminded of the happy and contented nature of the villagers in the Himalayas, they have very little in the way of material possessions but they have a smile they conveys an infectious happiness that any human would aspire to. Perhaps, the key is to reinvigorate the connection employees have to their work. Revisit the purpose and value that they are providing. Encourage sharing more about employees overall, goals, thoughts and values. Connecting employees with the company, their leader, colleagues and purpose by bringing their whole self to work. The self that they have at home maybe a more appealing version for our employees to embody?
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