Engaged employees should be given a Recess from their current position from time to time
Lately I feel like Customer of the Month at Research in Motion. I’ve been on the phone with them for hours to deal with several issues with my piece of junk Blackberry Storm 1. Now I keep suggesting they just send me a Storm 2 already. At this point I have to believe that the amount of payroll expense that has been dedicated to my issues is much greater than their cost to upgrade me out of this piece of junk. But I digress.
So as I entered hour who knows what the other day, waiting for some new software fix to download, I asked the Blackberry rep ….I forgot his name; there have been so many…… “what’s the best part of your job?”
His response was “solving customer issues.”
My response was “don’t you think the company should be working so there are no issues to be solved?”
His response was “then I wouldn’ t have a job.”
I told him I disagreed. I suggested that he probably has so many other talents that are not being used; that could be used somewhere else at RIM. Everyone does. Most employers just don’t tap into them.
Then he told me what he’d rather be doing. I told him not to tell me but to tell as many others at RIM as possible. One solution to getting employees engaged that is often overlooked is listening to where their interests actually lie.
You want to keep people engaged? Keep their work interesting, new and exciting. Give them a Recess from their current role every so often and offer them opportunities to move around the organization – even if just temporarily.
