Emotional Economy of the Workplace

The corporate world is still coming to terms with the terms “employee engagement” vs. “employee satisfaction.” Employees can be satisfied with their job, but that job may consist of them getting there at 9 AM and leaving at 5 PM on the dot. Employee engagement brings another element into the mix, and that is EMOTION.

Definition: Employee engagement is the emotional commitment the employee has to the organization and its goals.

There are ways to overcome satisfaction and move into engagement. How should employers emotionally cYonnect with employees? Communicate, build relationships and most importantly, care.

Centro Talent & Development and executive teams are always looking for ways to bring Centrons’ emotions and passions into the mix of our culture. The Dream Empowerment Program is just one avenue. We partnered with Floyd Consulting to run a series of workshops for employees to talk about (and build towards) their dreams and goals outside of the office. Want to write a short story? Let’s talk about it with your co-workers. Want to play the guitar? How can we help hold you accountable? When you book your trip to Italy, and you are excited to update your team about the progress you’ve made on that dream, that brings emotions into the workplace.

Another piece to employee engagement is checking yourself once in a while. If you are going, going, going all day, every day, you are going to burn out, and you are going to become disengaged with the work that is exhausting you. How then, can we help Centrons to recognize the power of “checking out?” Our first stab at it is bringing a “mindfulness” seminar to the company. Talking about the benefits of meditation and staying away from screens. We then followed up with an action item for employees to complete, which is taking a PAUSE during the day. This entails taking 15 minutes to meditate – no screens. This is with the full support of our CEO and head of Talent & Development.

The first step in employee engagement is recognizing that people are our most important asset. The second step is continuing to innovate and think of new ways to reach every employee differently.