8.7 THE SKILLS YOU NEED TO BE A GREAT BOSS: Job Embeddedness

(EXTRACTION FROM TEAM MANAGEMENT: Rewarding And Engaging People at http://www.mindtools.com)

 

Think about why you stay in your job.  There can be many positive factors that anchor you in your job, and the happier you feel about your work, the less likely you are to look for a position elsewhere.  "Job embeddedness" brings together all of these factors, and determines how committed people are to their jobs.  This is particularly important if your organization struggles to keep hold of good people!

Terence Mitchell, Brooks Holtom, Thomas Lee, Chris Sablynski, and Miriam Erez first introduced the concept of job embeddedness in their 2001 Academy of Management Journal paper, "Why People Stay: Using Job Embeddedness to Predict Voluntary Turnover."  According to the authors, job turnover has traditionally been assumed to relate to job satisfaction or dissatisfaction: if someone believes that another job has more factors of satisfaction and fewer of dissatisfaction than their current role, and if their organizational commitment is low, then they're likely to leave the organization.

The reality is that many things influence whether an employee stays with an organization, and job embeddedness deals with some of these.  There are three (3) aspects to it:

1.    Links: The connections that people have with other people or activities.

2.   Fit: How well the job and the working environment suit them.

3.   Sacrifice: How easily links can be broken.  What would they give up if they left?

People become embedded in many different ways.  The more links that they have with both their organization (on the job) and their outside community (off the job), the more likely they are to remain engaged, positive, and committed to the organization.

On-the-job embeddedness led to a greater feeling of organizational citizenship and higher job performance than off-the-job embeddedness.  You’ll retain people best if they have a good quality of life outside work, and you'll get the best from them if their work is satisfying.  focusing on improving job embeddedness in both areas – job and community – can help you boost morale, strengthen commitment, increase resilience, improve work relationships, and reduce job turnover; as well as increasing feelings of well-being and job satisfaction within your team.

 

Increasing Commitment with Job Embeddedness

Links Links are the connections that you have with people, activities, and institutions in your life. Ways to build links: ·        building good work relationships ·        establish a foundation of trust ·        through coaching and mentoring ·        communicating openly with everyone ·        allow some time during meetings for friendly conversation

Fit Fit describes how far the organization and wider environment suit individual employees. Make sure that everyone on your team is in a role that not only fits with their strengths and skills, but that also means something to them. ·        use Management by Objectives ·        link your team members' personal and group goals to the organization's objectives ·        meet with your people individually, and ask about their career goals ·        work with them to develop a career strategy ·        help them define their values and understand how they're using their values in their work ·        increase engagement and job satisfaction ·        link personal values with tasks or projects ·        identify what makes your team members truly happy ·        take into account the person's interpersonal skills and strengths ·        match people with the right tasks and projects

Sacrifice Sacrifice is the perceived psychological and material loss that people would experience if they left their job. You should always do your best to create a happy, healthy, and rewarding work environment for everyone on your team, regardless of whether you're trying to decrease turnover. ·        have a healthy work environment ·        make an effort to minimize workplace stress ·        help your team members thrive ·        help them to become happier at work ·        show your people how much you appreciate their hard work ·        Give plenty of praise ·        reward them appropriately for good performance ·        practice Management by Walking Around ·        quickly identify problems ·        say "thank you" in person

There are some risks to job embeddedness.  if people are embedded deeply in their job, they're less inclined to develop a rich, diverse social and professional network.  Employees can miss out on learning new concepts and skills.  It can also slow the growth of their expertise.