Most organisations measure employee engagement in some manner, and most HR functions (and managers) will have KPIs that are related to it. I was fortunate enough to spend a number of years working for Hewitt Associates and was actively involved in providing consulting around their employee engagement offer for many years. As such, I know the effort that goes into collecting and analysing employee data, determining which organizational levers to pull to increase engagement and how this data is used to inform organizational initiatives.

The reality is however, that engagement is a very individual affair….

About 6 months after I joined Hewitt Associates, I sat down with our regional head of the business – a lovely gent by the name of Mick to discuss my own level of engagement (Note: Kudos to him for making the time to talk with a relatively junior member of the team!).

To set the scene I had been headhunted from another consulting company, and had joined Hewitt for three main reasons:

1. A 50% pay rise (pretty hard to resist!);

2. The opportunity to work in a consulting firm with deep HR knowledge vs. the general consultancy I had been working in before; and

3. The strong organizational culture in Hewitt I had heard so much about.

Mick asked me how I was feeling and I shared with him my reasons for joining and that the area I was not so happy with was the culture – which was not as engaging as I had expected it to be. To be brutally honest I was starting to become cynical about what had been ‘promised’ during the interview vs. the reality of the job and was wondering if I had made the right choice – notwithstanding the pay jump.

We had a good chat and he said something to me that I’ve never forgotten – both because of the impact it had on me as well as the ability to leverage his words into my subsequent professional work. He said:

“Ian, Engagement is really simple. There are 4 levels of engagement.

You’re either happy. You’re confused. You’re cynical. Or you’re bitter…

… and if you’re bitter, you’re f*#@ed!”

So, if you are feeling resentful and bitter about how things are going in your current organization – leave! Life is too short to work somewhere you are unhappy.

As for me, I am happy to report that I left the meeting with Mick “confused” and ended up spending an enjoyable 9 years at Hewitt.