Article Published in Human Edge Magazine in September, 2010

Enthusiasm on the Job – Critical but Deteriorating

Enthusiasm on the Job – Critical but Deteriorating

I begin to imagine my 5 years old Nephew and all the time that i saw him grow up since his birth, up to the first  2 years of his life i have observed him get enthused and excited about almost anything that he came across from mud to an aeroplane and while he would observe, feel, see and react to these things including new people he would have an amazing energy level to touch, feel and taste almost everything that he could get his hands on, the next 3 years of him growing up I observed that now he would get excited and enthused only by select things and people, his favourite soft toys and games were of no interest to him anymore, he would not be enthused or intrigued to meet new people rather he was simple and sober and unresponsive to them sometimes even shy.  

As I begin to analyze my nephew’s changing behaviour I get a call from my old time Management college friend and we have a long chat and the afterthought of our conversation made me realize that we are the same as toddlers or as collegians or as professionals, i remember having graduated from a management school I and my group had an extraordinary trait of having undying enthusiasm in any task we took to accomplish and on the graduation the excitement levels were sleeve busting as we realize that now is the time we step up for a great job and all great organizations await us.  While all of us begin our journey as professionals we all are at the peak of our enthusiasm and excitement levels in any assignment we venture into and as we get more and more experienced and see that all the tasks that are being done are repetitive and monotonous which leads to dip in motivations levels to do those tasks and diminishing enthusiasm levels by each day as time passes by. In this bewildered state of mind or as we call monotony we begin to explore secondary options expecting it to be more satisfying hoping to revive our enthusiasm levels leading to job changes and profession changes.   

I would like to look at this phenomenon of diminishing enthusiasm from both Employer and Employee perspectives:

·      Employer Perspective: To an employer each employee and their contribution on the job results into the desired output, expected results, achievements and revenues and hence it is very critical to have an energised and motivated team of people for success of any organisation whereas on the other hand if this team is de-motivated, unenthused, complacent and unforthcoming the results could be disastrous leading to fall of even the largest business empire of the world.

·        Employee Perspective: Human beings by nature are the most exploring animals in the world. New things, feelings, emotions, relationships, experiences is what keeps us going wanting to do more, no more, achieve more and venture into unexplored avenues personal or professional. Monotony in any form of work results into diminishing enthusiasm doing the same thing over and over again and this monotony is a killer of creativity in professionals leading to reduced energy levels, lack of enthusiasm affecting the effectiveness and efficiency of individuals in any given job.

Hence today if we look at most of the organizations there is a heavy impetus given to Employee Engagement, Performance measurement, Assessment and Feedback, continuous learning amongst various organizational initiatives which help every employee identify himself and his contribution in the big picture of the organizational success and achievements and from organizational perspective these initiatives help understand and evaluate the organizations talent pool, star performers, deliverables measurement and progression.

Every organization today is moving towards need based talent and hence there is a clear job outline or job description that is given for every job role wherein the HR understands which candidates would be an ideal fit as per the role and in turn the candidate evaluates the profile and his fitment with the proposed role.

There are many Indian companies which shadow non performers and some do not have enough work to keep people engaged 9 hours per day and 5 days a week but these still continue to pay salaries wherein all that the employee contributes is his physical presence for 9 hours at work as there are no deliverables and measurement hence making the employee take the system for granted, and in absence of any work related challenge over time if any given professional remains in the mentioned scenario it would only get increasingly frustrating even though (S)he keeps getting his/her salary but over a period every individual seeks meaning to what (s)he does at work and whether he is learning, growing and contributing and if the answer to all of these questions is no then the only option left for the employee is to look for a job which needs his/her contribution as (s)he is not able to add value to himself nor to the organization in such case job switch will be a win -win situation for both the employee and his organization.

Work - Is it really about the money?

Every working professional today is yearning for more and more monetary payoffs for work, effort and performance. Imagine a situation where you get your salary for not contributing any value on the job, no accountability, no performance monitoring - basically being paid for your physical presence in the office premises (sounds tempting doesn't it) but this situation is like a glitter that looks like gold in the dark but it isn't truly gold, let me explain - Lets split work into three different dimensions 1. Challenge for self, 2. Contribution to the organization and 3. Personal and professional growth;

1. Challenge for Self: Every Human being today has learnt and realized the meaning of self worth and as we discover more about ourselves we put out creative juices and hard work into action, this is the adrenaline state that keeps every professional energized not demeaning the external factors like organizational climate, team work and nature of work but Challenges in life and at work help us self actualize and fulfill our potential. A professional with challenges at work will accomplish much more than the ones who do not have any. Imagine the nightmare of getting to work and do not have any task to be completed or agenda to be fulfilled, what would you do to keep yourself occupied for 9 hours on an average 5 days per week in the office premises. Facebook, Linked in, Internet surfing, research, personal agendas would all this be good enough to keep you occupied for all the time you have at work.

2. Contribution to the Organization: Every organization existing today has goals and milestones that it strives to achieve and every employee in the organizational pyramid has a very critical role to play in the journey of an organization from its inception to turning into a multi-million or billion dollar company. Tasks that are collectively accomplished by the group of employees determines the organizational performance and when an organization succeeds it in turn pays off for every employee in the form of equity or appraisals. The prime need of any organization is that each professional that is hired delivers on the assigned job role and hence from peons to Chairman all have their critical part to play "Just like - har ek friend zaroori hota hai, for any given company - Har ek employee zaroori hota hai"

3. Personal and Professional Growth: Every successful professional today has a journey of accomplishments and failures that (s)he has achieved / persevered to get to where they are today. It is human instinct that when we achieve something 97% of people would attempt to go to a higher level of accomplishment and this ultimately becomes a tendency to consistently keep competing with one self leading to individual growth and professional excellence and hence ones occupation plays a very important role in shaping the individuals career and overall personality of the individual.

The fourth dimension of work is the monetary payoff every month we call "Salary"or as an HR jargon "Compensation". while this statement might hit you hard but it is the truth, "The most important part of work is work itself and not money".

Most people generalize money for success and means for satisfaction but the masters of HR fraternity have researched and modeled several papers and theories that from a professional perspective money is a short term motivator for any individual who is looking for professional excellence as without work proposition and challenge each individual will have a diminishing work satisfaction that no amount of money will be able to fulfill affecting the individuals balance professionally and psychologically. It is the quality of work, occupancy during work hours,  work challenges and accomplishing that which has never been done before is the instinct that gets a professional Head & Heart on the job and that is where excellence and work satisfaction lies.

"Work is the most precious gift from an organization to an employee", every professional that regards work as a gift and accepts the same with the package of challenges at work both personal and professional will excel in his or her domain of expertise.

"Embrace your work each day and do your best with a zest."

Food for Thought: Each and every one of us are very happy when we see our bank account credited with our monthly pay out, how many of us truly question ourselves whether i have earned it to get it?

Human Resources - Straight From the Heart

Dear All,

This is my first blog post and i am happy to introduce to you HR-SFH along with some background about me. Human Resources - Straight From the Heart is an initiative to share, discuss, inform and mutually enlighten HR professionals, Students, and all those to who have inclination towards people management and related matters in the organization, who want to understand and be informed about perspectives on Industry, emerging trends, patterns, concepts, ideologies in the field of people management in India and around the world. Humor i believe is a critical element which has been missing on almost all websites and blogs that i have come across and hence, timely humor relating to organizational and people issues is something that i will endeavor into as we move forward on HR-SFH.

I welcome each and very follower on the blog wishing that we would mutually learn, share and evolve as better professionals and better human beings as we begin this journey together. I would request you to share this blog if you like the content shared herein.

I am Bhushan Tripathi, the owner of this blog HR-SFH. I have 6 years domain expertise in HR as a Generalist having worked in Financial Services and IT sectors managing the HR function of several companies spanning from Recruitment to Retirement with Hands-on exposure in each and every HR and related process.  I have also been associated with consulting firms for HR Process Outsourcing assignments and continue to learn and discover something new about myself each day i spend at work.

I look forward to requests and suggestion on my blog to help improvise and ensure that we make the best out of this sharing platform.

Best Regards,
Bhushan Tripathi