To express emotions when at the workplace or to not? Analyzing the sentiments in order to boost employee engagement is the road to take for an enhanced experience.

There are not one but multiple movies that have very similar plots when it comes to employees quitting their jobs. A lot of them have shown that employees are in a rotten mood, they can’t focus on their work, end up making a mistake, the manager notices and yells, and ultimately they either quit in frustration or are handed the pink slip. This happens a lot in real life too. We are all humans and the top factor that makes us human is emotions. Emotions and the ability to express them are what differentiates humans from other living and non-living objects. And humans are (generally) humane regardless of where they are. This justifies employees displaying emotions at the workplace.

An organization is a place where emotional intelligence is of high regard and managing the emotions is a skill of great value.

Some employees are great at managing their emotions at the workplace, while others have difficulty in instilling the said skill. The display of emotions at the workplace can be great when it is controlled and managed and let out in the right manner.

But, can this skill be used to improve the aspect of employee engagement and management at the workplace?

Let us first try to understand different emotions and their impact on employee engagement.

Positive Emotions – Emotions where employees feel a sense of positivity along with contentment for work, can have a blossoming impact on the productivity and interest of the employees at the workplace.

1)      Trust

Trust is the most difficult positive emotion that is to be gained and presented by the employers as well as the employees. When the environment is trustworthy, the engagement process becomes smoother and streamlined. Employees find it okay to communicate their feelings, and employers create a space where they do not judge the employees for expressing what they feel. In such an ecosystem, achieving employee engagement can be simplified.

2)      Empathy

Empathy is yet another emotion that is extremely significant to possess, especially within the organizations. Many times, it is seen that employers lash out at their employees because of not getting the expected work done without caring about the reasons behind it. Even among peers, it has been noticed that employees lack empathy even in basic scenarios such as covering the shift for a fellow employee on their birthday or when they are sick. An empathetic workforce is a synergetic workforce where engagement can be attained without a lot of friction.

3)      Amusement

This is my favorite emotion in the workplace. Where there is amusement, there is curiosity, and where there is curiosity, there is proactivity. The workforce has to be amused to look forward to coming to work the next day. Many times, employees just feel exhausted because of monotonous tasks and activities. They feel burnt out as there is nothing that excites them to work. Hence, amusement in the work processes is a must for enhanced employee engagement.

Negative Emotions – Emotions that can cause harm to your own or hurt somebody else’s feelings are negative emotions. Such emotions generally have a lasting impact, at workplaces.

1)      Anger/Frustration

 Facing the fury of someone is never anticipated by anyone. In an organization, when employees often feel angry or frustrated because of the work, culture of the firm, its environment, or even the people around, can soon be labeled as a hostile environment to work at. Such firms tend to find it extremely difficult to engage their employees in the organization. There is a lot of frustration and irritation that can result in an unproductive workforce.

 2)      Dissatisfaction

 Dissatisfied employees are more often than not a result of something that was promised but isn’t being delivered to them in the company. For example, before joining the firm, the marketing manager was told that he would be given complete control of the marketing and editorial activities of the company, but after joining, he understands that he can only have a say in the activities but not complete control. Such things can lead to dissatisfaction and ultimately to disengagement.

 3)      Insecurity

 When an employee is in a state of insecurity, he\she is unsure of his/her future in the company.

Job insecurity can drain out the interest of the employee in working for the company within minutes.

Insecurity can also be about the status or position of the company in the market. For example, Difficult situations such as the pandemic can impose a threat to the existence of the company and ultimately to the job of the employee, causing disengagement.

 Now coming to managing these emotions for improving employee engagement, we would say, yes, channelizing the emotions of the workforce in the right direction can enhance the engagement process. Dealing with negative emotions in such a way that they are embraced and let out in a composed manner is extremely important. Employers should take steps in the direction of targeting emotions to trigger employee engagement and not disengagement.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Chandrima Samanta
Content-Editor at HrTech Cube
Chandrima is a Content management executive with a flair for creating high quality content irrespective of genre. She believes in crafting stories irrespective of genre and bringing them to a creative form. Prior to working for MartechCube she was a Business Analyst with Capgemini.