How interesting to read a study that acknowledges "working hours certainly does not measure quality of work or actual productivity" and yet only quantifies productivity as working hours in its analysis! To assume longer hours equates to productivity is dangerous. There are studies widely available on the correlation of long hours and burnout, of burnout and declines in qualitative output, and of burnout and employee retention.
Engagement is incredibly important in building community and culture at any company. Employees who are connected to the company culture have higher satisfaction rates--something well studied and correlated to customer satisfaction. Engagement leads to lower turnover rates--also studied and correlated to customer satisfaction (not to mention it's a factor that saves companies money!). Add DE&I to your engagement and you have improved thought diversity, a key factor in innovation. Diversity measures and engagement lead to improved psychological safety, yet another factor not only promoting quality output, but also supporting the overall well-being of employees!
If your employees are engaged, your turnover is low, and your customer satisfaction is high--why would you want to arbitrarily assume working longer hours is a good thing and risk burnout? Longer hours may well indicate workloads that are out of balance, systems that are not optimized for efficiency, and processes with wasted non-value adding steps. Putting the very important employee aspects aside, the goal of organizations should be quality output, customer satisfaction, and sustainable growth. If any of these require long working hours, it's time to dig into your gaps and make some changes!
Companies that want to improve employee engagement and business results need to look closely at what inspires their employees and how to best harness that.
Being Engaged at Work Is Not the Same as Being Productive
hbr.org
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7moInteresting perspective on the correlation between employee engagement and productivity in Fortune 100 companies. 📈