Job Enrichment, a forgotten job mobility option, By Dr. Bev Kaye
We live in a world where standing still means falling behind. This applies to your work-life as much as it does to your personal life. The more that people fall in love with what they do, the higher they can set the bar in their fields. We must look at current jobs as the fertile soil from which a career can grow. Enrichment can rekindle passion and excitement that may have disappeared beneath daily tasks and deadlines.
Ask yourself, how productive do your employees seem? Do they seem truly energized by their work? Are they thriving and learning on the job? Unfortunately, the most valued employees are the ones most likely to suffer this sense of job discontent. An employee who is dissatisfied with their job will likely become disengaged, thus leading to a decrease in productivity. Worst case scenario, you just lost some expensive talent to a competing company.
We forget that growing in place is a major mobility option. The bedrock of enrichment is learning. Enrichment can take many different forms. Remember to ask your employees what they’d like to do and how they’d like to do it.
Try asking your employee these questions to open a conversation about job enrichment:
- What talent do you have that I may not be aware of, that you would love to use more?
- What do you want to learn this year?
- What about your job do you find challenging or rewarding?
- In what areas would you like to have an increase in responsibility?
- What would you like to be doing in the next 2 years?
- In what ways would you want your job to change?
Other possibilities for enrichment besides increasing feedback include involving employees in decisions, nurturing creativity, and supporting enrollment in learning opportunities. Continual feedback will allow an employee to be their own quality control agent. Here are some more things to think about:
- Don’t just limit reviews to annual reviews. Nurturing creativity can mean allowing your employees to think outside the box and try skills that they’ve never practiced at work before.
- Does an employee mention their passion for aesthetics and design? Offer an opportunity to give them a shot at designing the next team meeting agenda.
- Supporting enrollment in learning opportunities can mean sponsoring courses in LinkedIn Learning, Coursera, Masterclass, or more.
Remember to ask your talented employees exactly what they’d like to do and how they’d like to do it. The payoff for encouraging job enrichment is the gift that keeps on giving. After learning new skills, acquiring new responsibilities, and broadening their scope at work, employees will be more likely to stay committed to your organization for the long haul and produce higher quality work. Job enrichment is a collaborative process. Truly listen to your people.
