The Employee Experience

Foreword

When you ask employees how they approach their jobs, just over half of them say that they put in the least amount of work possible without getting fired. If this statistic is true, odds are the guy who recently assembled your grandfather’s pacemaker didn’t really care. One can only hope that surly pacemaker guy is actually part of the other half who are engaged in their work.

Until you understand who is putting in a full and smart effort each day—from producing pacemakers to driving Disney’s Jungle Boat (you try telling the same dumb jokes twenty times a day)—you don’t know where to focus your leadership attention. Who is fully engaged, but not in serving their customers—instead, they’re engaged in serving themselves? Consider the artists who design shampoo and conditioner labels. They work hard to produce a product that will win all kinds of art awards. Of course, that means they use small, grey fonts (they’re considered artsy and all the rage). Now, nobody over fifty who has the temerity to remove their glasses before entering the shower, can see the labels. Oh well, it’s just shampoo and conditioner. But what if the stakes were higher?

As you look behind the engagement headlines, you’re compelled to ask why so many people care so little about their work—or their customers. But you already know the answer, don’t you? It’s those darn Gen-Xers, Millennials, and other narcissists who are taking celebratory photos of themselves every time they chug a large soft drink ...