The changing rules of engagement at work

Source: lookstudio via Freepik

One of the most compelling ways to retain your talented people is to keep them engaged.

Employee engagement counts

More engaged employees are more satisfied and productive, they perform better and stay in their jobs longer. And companies with more engaged employees are more profitable. These statistics play out in multiple research surveys.

Thinking around employee engagement has also evolved. When people who are now approaching retirement started their careers, engagement didn’t enter the conversation. For people entering the workforce now, it matters. A huge amount. That means the companies employing them need to regard it as both important and urgent.

Add to that Gallup’s February 2024 findings that in the US since March 2020, engagement in so-called Baby Boomers has increased by two percentage points, whereas it has decreased by four percentage points in so-called Gen Xers and by seven percentage points in the even younger, millennial generation. It may be a snapshot in time - but it’s a snapshot of contemporary times - and that makes it very relevant.

It begs the question: Why is there a difference between older and younger workers?

Among many reasons for the generational difference in engagement at work, one factor that stands out is the generational difference in expectations of work.

The advancement of alignment

While there has been a shrinking expectation of longevity and loyalty over the last few decades, there has also been a growing expectation of purpose and meaning.

Last century, most people went to work simply to do a job and earn an income. That job helped a business pursue a strategy. It was functional.

In the first years of this century, Donald Tosti and Stephanie Jackson’s Organisational Alignment Model identified another, more emotional component to work. In addition to strategic alignment – which identifies what needs to be done – they highlighted cultural alignment – which identifies how it needs to be done. “Organisations have traditionally emphasised the strategic path,” they said. “Yet the way we do things influences results fully as much as what we do.”

Since then, there has been an increased emphasis on organisations’ visions, missions, purposes and values. And the desire for cultural alignment has become more prominent, not just inside the organisation, but between the organisation and the individual employee.

Many younger workers want their values to align with the company’s. They want to work on something they believe in. They’re still doing a job, but they want their job to serve a higher purpose and their endeavours to be meaningful. A lack of purpose means less engagement. Especially in younger workers.

The evolution of recognition

Another expectation that has developed over generations is the one for recognition. In The ROI of Social Recognition, Work Human reported that 81% of employees say recognition makes them feel more committed. According to Kincentric, employees’ intention to stay in their jobs is three times higher when they feel appropriately recognised. Aon’s report, Trends in Global Employee Engagement, said that recognition and reward is the number one drivers of employee engagement worldwide. Organisations are paying attention to those kinds of stats these days. But it hasn’t always been the case.

Fifty years ago, people generally didn’t expect (or get) much recognition for their work – other than, perhaps, a watch when they retired. By the turn of the century, things had evolved somewhat. Rather than once in a career, recognition might have come once a year, at the annual salary review. Some organisations added things like length of service awards or employee of the month awards.

But, in a webinar in March 2024, management guru Bob Nelson, who trained under Peter Drucker, pointed out issues with this kind of recognition. On the “gold watch” – why wait until the end of a career? On length of service awards – why reward people for permanence, not performance? Employee of the Month awards seldom have anything to do with cultural alignment.

Add to that Nelson’s PhD research findings that 99.4% of employees now expect to be recognised when they do good work – not just want to be, but expect to be. Many want it to happen regularly and publicly. And not just from management, but from peers. Businesses need a systematic strategy for recognising employees, he says. And that recognition should be “timely, sincere, specific, and proactive.”
It may sound overwhelming, but Nelson adds that it’s not that hard. And technology helps immensely. As the Incentive Research Foundation (IRF) 2024, Trends Report Technology notes: “Platforms that increase the speed of feedback, amplify congratulatory messaging and simplify the delivery of rewards keep young workers engaged.”

As just one example, Achievement Awards Group’s platform, bountiXP lets anyone in an organisation recognise anyone else, any time, publicly. And that recognition can easily – and should deliberately – be designed to align with an organisation’s culture and values. Rewards can also be integrated into the platform. The IRF observes that rewards and incentives are "particularly important for early career workers who tend to ‘job hop’ more frequently."

The power of reward is not hearsay or theory – it’s biology. A 2017 IRF white paper, Translating the Neuroscience of Behavioural Economics into Employee Engagement, said that “the most powerful neuroeconomics finding is that all forms of reward – monetary or otherwise – are processed in the brain’s master reward centre, the striatum, and are experienced as rewarding feelings… rewarding employees intrinsically by treating them better or rewarding them extrinsically with money are treated equally in the brain.”

The elevation of old wisdom

We tend to associate technology more with youth than advanced age. So what about those who’ve got forty years of valuable experience and knowledge?

The Harvard Business Review recently wrote about how, "due largely to early retirements and a caustic mix of ageism and cost-cutting measures, businesses let too many older workers go during the pandemic — and when they left, so did a lot of institutional memory, expertise, and loyalty."

Well, the striatum in our brains doesn’t switch off at a certain age. We respond to recognition and reward whether we’re 20 or 60. But the form of that recognition can be age-appropriate.

Organisations should appreciate and use the institutional knowledge of older workers by making them mentors. In this way, their status is elevated, and they are recognised as being genuinely valuable and valued.

The bottom line

Organisations that do two things will attract and retain employees better, and better employees. And they’ll be more profitable.

One, embrace the alignment of culture, values and meaning.

And two, use different strokes to recognise different folks.

In a nutshell, generational shifts have driven two big trends that are changing the way organisations engage their people. One, is a move from just strategic alignment toward also incorporating cultural alignment. And two, the increasing expectation and appropriateness of employee recognition.

Employees’ expectations have changed and evolved. How organisations engage their employees needs to do the same.