Generation Y and the Workplace Annual Report 2010 - Haworth

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Global WorkPlace Innovation
Photographer: Oriane Pesquier
Emotional Engagement
Emotional engagements is elusive and no
wonder since it encompasses strength of feeling
towards work, our colleagues and our physical
surroundings, all of which interact in non-simple
ways. Achieving emotional engagement is the
holy grail of workplace design in the emerging
innovation age, where knowledge is created and
shared through networks. Understanding how
people work and socialise in networks, and how
their workplace environments help or hinder them,
is now fundamental and urgent.
Emotional engagement is an outcome of the
strength of feeling we have towards work, our
colleagues and our physical surroundings, all of
which interact in non-simple ways. It is influenced
by having the opportunity, desire and the right
sort of environments, which allow us to connect
with work and each other 49 . Achieving emotional
engagement is the holy grail of workplace design
in the emerging innovation age, where knowledge
is created and shared through networks.
Understanding how people work and socialise in
networks, and how their workplace environments
help or hinder them, is now fundamental and urgent.
An overwhelming amount has been written about
how to influence intrinsic motivation, a close
relative of emotional engagement, by focusing on
combinations of social relationships, technology,
job design and business processes. The role
of the workplace is rarely considered. That is
changing rapidly. The workplace is taking centrestage
as people come together to socialise,
collaborate and learn. We also need space for
isolation and contemplation.
Copyright © 2010, Johnson Controls. Confidential. All Rights Reserved.
Intellectual Property Johnson Controls, Haworth and iDEA.
“Engagement is about creating
opportunities for employees to connect
with their colleagues, managers
and wider organisation. It is also
about creating an environment where
employees are motivated to want to
connect with their work and really
care about doing a good job.” 48
Enterprises are fragmenting into eco-systems
of partnerships and nomadic work-on-the-go is
normal. Consequently workplaces are themselves
transforming, kaleidoscope-like, into patterns
of distributed and virtual configurations. The
plethora of public spaces available through wifi
allows permanently connected knowledge workers
choice in where they work based on what mood
they are in, what they have to do and who they
have to be with. This self-determination satisfies
their emotional needs.
“It is becoming commonplace for a cafe to be
full of people ... more engaged with their in-box
than with the people touching their elbows. These
places are physically inhabited but psychologically
evacuated ”
The Economist 50 .
It is conceivable that there might come a day when
offices are no longer considered necessary and
knowledge workers, like armies of freelancers
currently do, take responsibility for sourcing
their own workspaces. For the moment though,
the provision of appropriate workplaces remains
largely with employers. Observations from hybrid
‘third places’, public spaces and workspaces away
from the office environment, show that emotional
engagement is about much more than the physical
workplace. It is no longer enough that people
are co-located; they are more often interested in
what’s happening on their digital devices than
the people sitting next to them. Space can be
physically inhabited but psychologically evacuated 51 .
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