Passion is a key driver of employee engagement. Passion as we all know is an intense desire or enthusiasm for doing something with utmost accuracy. It is like the fuel in the fire of action that brings about the greatest results in life. It makes people do amazing things; push through difficult times as passionate people don’t care about what it takes to become better.
An employee’s passion helps him connect emotionally with the organization. That leads to employee engagement. An employee can achieve excellence in his work as his attitude and behavior improve a lot. He develops the willingness to act with discretion. He feels committed to the organization and as he reaches the peak of his performance, he achieves job satisfaction. Passion also helps in reducing work stress. An individual body becomes relaxed and pleased once he does what he likes .
Passion and employee engagement
When we talk about passion in relation to employee engagement, we need to understand that even though the two concepts are intertwined yet there is difference based on conventional models. An employee may be engaged but not passionate based on conventional models. A passionate employee may not be engaged with his job but engaged with his work. Therefore, despite lack of engagement, he will perform. Such compulsive performers, if not engaged, will eventually exit.
An engaged employee, as per traditional models, is conscientious about his work. An employee does what is expected of him. He follows the rule book. He does what the management tells him to do. A passionate employee is an engaged employee as per the contemporary multigenerational model W.E.-Matter. He is eager to explore and experiment to provide better results.
Challenges provide him opportunities to learn new skills. He does not follow the rule book. Instead, he does whatever it takes to please the customers. The daily task of an employee is focused on creating value. It is less on the utilization of human capability. The more value they bring to the organization the more benefits an organization has and this leads to increased productivity.
Relation Between Passion and Employee Engagement
Employee engagement includes employee involvement, creative contribution, long-term commitment, loyalty, happier-healthier employees who are satisfied with their jobs. It is based on trust and integrity and is two-way communication between the organization and its members. By contributing to the performance, productivity, and well-being of the individual and the organization increases the chances of business success. Organizations can measure engagement levels and eventually increase them.
Employee engagement is a wider concept as it includes passion, motivation, autonomy, a collaborative environment, fairness of the organization, recognition, connectedness, opportunities for growth, and professional development. While satisfaction is the starting point, the passion takes the organization to real employee engagement that drives business performance.
A satisfied employee works all day sincerely to fulfill what is expected from him . But, if he is passionate about his work, he will go beyond the call of duty and deliver outstanding results. .. By combining passion with work a person can perform to the best of his ability and enjoy doing the work like never before.
Conclusion
Our research shows that combining passion with work improves performance as the employee enjoys what he does. While the organizations make an effort to engage employees so that they feel that they are doing a meaningful job, it also needs to encourage the employees to be passionate about their work. The new concept of engagement combines passion. W.E-Matter has included passion in their employee engagement model. There will be no stress related to the work. The employees will improve in terms of skills and knowledge. They will be more focused as work will be a pleasing experience. The employees will have the desire to pursue excellence, and complete it with precision. They will feel energized and refreshed the whole day. On the whole, the organization will benefit as the working environment will improve. This will lead to improved productivity. Ultimately businesses that ensure people are passionate succeed.