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Engaged and Exhausted

Friday, February 2, 2018

Employee engagement has been a major concern across industries for years. Ever since Gallup revealed that a shocking 7 in 10 employees report feeling unengaged at their jobs, figuring out how to boost engagement has been a top priority for business leaders. However, while engagement has its benefits, it comes at a price: Most highly motivated, highly engaged workers also carry a significant amount of stress...and because of this, they are at risk for burnout. There are several nuanced studies that describe what is called the engaged-exhausted employee--those who have high levels of passion for their work, but also high levels of frustration. These engaged-exhausted individuals have the highest level of turnover--even more than the actively unengaged. Simply put, this means organizations are at risk of losing some of their most hardworking, motivated employees--not because of lack of engagement, but because of their high levels of stress. This means that while engagement initiatives are important, they aren’t the end of the story. Business leaders should seek to engage their employees while mitigating their stress at the same time.

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Emma, the engaged-exhausted employee is a direct result of poor leadership. Leaders who fail to address the "actively disengaged" or the "not-engaged" employees and place the team's performance on the shoulders of engaged employees. The mindset of the engaged is to deliver more discretionary effort and they challenge themselves to carry the load. Leaders must address the behaviors of the "actively disengaged" and "not engaged" AND ensure their Superstar Performers are taking care of themselves.
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