Happy schmappy. I want to be on fire!

This might surprise you, but I think companies that focus on "employee satisfaction" are missing the boat. This post has been brewing for a good long time, and this article challenging the notion that happy workers equate with a fatter bottom line brought it to the surface.

Every time I see a study on employee satisfaction, I look at the percentages and think, "What is that really measuring?" Because quite honestly, I think what satisfaction often means is "things are good enough." "Yeah, I'm pretty satisfied here. It's not bad." It reflects employees who feel like they've got it reasonably good, so they don't see much reason to complain.

What I want to know is what would the answer be if the question were, "Do you feel on fire about the work that you do? Does it energize you? Does it make you feel alive?" From what I've seen out there, I can guarantee that the percentage that answer yes to that would be a fraction of the percentage that would answer yes to "Are you satisfied."

Satisfied employees don't fuel the bottom line. Satisfied employees maintain a good status quo and a great foundation to build on. Having satisfied employees is obviously not a bad thing, but in my mind it's also only the starting point.

The real rocket ride comes with employees who get so much energy out of the work they do that they can't help but function at peak performance. Engaged employees have been proven to increase profits, productivity, employee happiness and retention, and customer satisfaction (see here and here, for example).

So forget the employee satisfaction surveys. Show me the employee passion surveys!

Comments

[Jeremy]

Garth had a comment about this to one of your recent posts, and I thought it was interesting:

"I'm not sure our jobs or lives are about happiness - the pursuit of happiness to me seems somewhat empty. Happiness is mere emotion - something that changes like the season. I love what I do, I love to teach but it doesn't always make me happy, in fact it sometimes makes me angry. A better or perhaps more accurate pursuit would be finding a purpose or meaning to your life."

My take on this depends on my mental space. When I'm energized and optimistic, I believe in the possibility of work that really fires me up. In the down (or neutral) times, work satisfaction seems like a worthy goal and passionate work feels like a pipe dream. That said, I appreciate this call to pursue work that fires us up...it's probably wise to keep the faith.

[Davidjac]

On the other hand, you don't want employees who are manic and who might have incredible productive highs followed by long lows. They are hard to direct and disruptive.

[steven]

note to my employer: if your people don't even get to "satisfied" on your internal surveys, you're never going to make Curt happy ;-)

[Curt Rosengren]

Jeremy, you're right. That was a great observation from Garth. Thanks for pointing to it.

David, I'm curious what prompted you to tie passionate employees in with the risk of manic employees.

Steven...and after all, making Curt happy IS what it's all about, isn't it? ;-)~

[Jennifer]

I came here just to make a comment, but pardon the interruption while I say "here, here!" to this post. Give me the passion any day of the week, and I'll happily work every day of it. For fun. Because it rocks me. And therefore, I'd like to think, 'your' bototm line.

Which is a neat little seque to my saying Thank You for this site. I went through months of a job full of drudgery, miserable every day. I knew I had to escape or be eaten alive by the...dissatisfaction of it all. Your site inspired me, gave me hope and ideas, and lit a fire under me to search for what I really wanted. Guess what? I found it.

I love what you're doing here. Even though I've cycled through my 'blue period', I continue to visit all those same reasons.

So. Thanks, Curt. Sincerely.

[urban.trash.poet]

passion & employee used in the same sentence? whoa...interesting :P