When Joseph reports to his job as a hospital nurse, it seems that everything else in his life goes away, and he becomes completely absorbed in what he is doing. His emotions, thoughts, and behavior are all directed toward patient care. In fact, he can get so caught up in his work that he isn’t even aware of how long he’s been there. As a result of this total commitment, he is more effective in providing patient care and feels uplifted by his time at work.

Joseph has a high level of job engagement, the investment of an employee’s physical, cognitive, and emotional energies into job performance.80 Practicing managers and scholars have become interested in facilitating job engagement, believing factors deeper than liking a job or finding it interesting drives performance. Researchers attempt to measure this deeper level of commitment. Job engagement is linked with employee engagement, which we discussed in Chapter 3.

Over the past 30 years, the Gallup organization has been studying the extent to which engagement is linked to positive work outcomes for millions of employees.81 The results indicate there are far more engaged employees in highly successful organizations than in average ones, and groups with more engaged employees have higher levels of productivity, fewer safety incidents, and lower turnover. Academic studies have also found positive outcomes. For instance, one review found levels of engagement were associated with task performance and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB; see Chapter 1).82

What makes people more likely to be engaged in their jobs? One key is the degree to which an employee believes it is meaningful to engage in work. This is partially determined by job characteristics and access to sufficient resources to work effectively.83 Another factor is a match between the individual’s values and those of the organization.84 Leadership behaviors that inspire workers to a greater sense of mission also increase employee engagement.85