by Minal Joshi Jaeckli, founder of OpenElevator and author of “The Goldilocks Team: Master Retention and Hiring“
Employee engagement is obviously extremely important. But what does it mean, exactly? Perhaps like me, you’ve worked for years without giving engagement a thought. Ironically, what got me interested in workplace engagement was my own disengagement.
After working across three industries on two continents and in about ten different mostly rewarding, if not totally fun, positions, from chemist in the pharmaceutical sector to product manager in the semiconductor industry to investor relations for a wealth manager, I joined Credit Suisse. I had a rich and diverse experience base to take on what sounded like a great opportunity. Beyond work, I was a lucky new mom, with the most wonderful husband. All was well. Even though I had joined the workforce over a decade ago, I had never said, much less thought about the phrase “Employee Engagement.”
At Credit Suisse it felt like the music stopped. Within a few weeks, I found myself completely disengaged.
While I’d had the usual career ups and downs, for the most part I had been very fortunate. I didn’t fully grasp how fortunate until I joined Credit Suisse. As I often tell people, engagement isn’t like a Bollywood movie, there’s no dancing in fields of daisies when you’re happy. It just feels normal, just like what you’d expect. However, when you’re unhappy, dread Mondays, and feel a deep, soul-crushing aversion for your job, the difference becomes painfully clear.
Having worked in so many different environments, I tried to identify the throughline, the common thread among the positions that made them great (or at least fine). And what was missing now that was making me so unhappy? What was not working? What did I need to be happy?
I was horrified when I realized my disengagement at Credit Suisse wasn’t an isolated issue but a systemic problem. I was struck by my colleagues’ discontent. Every conversation revolved around the latest management upheavals, contained sarcastic comments about internal communications, and was evidence of everyone’s overwhelming sense of frustration with their jobs, bosses, and the organization as a whole. My coworkers didn’t just complain; people busied themselves, constantly networking to find another position to jump to, playing a desperate game of musical chairs. I wondered how any work got done. It was completely bizarre and nauseating
to me. Unhappiness at work was not just an individual experience but a collective norm. Witnessing how they had normalized unhappiness at work was disturbing to me.
I felt like a spoiled brat for expecting more from work.
Was it that bad at Credit Suisse? Yes. Was I expecting too much from an employer, and from work, because of my own previous, rewarding work experiences? No.
It’s striking how much our expectations and standards are shaped by our experiences and beliefs. In stark contrast to my previous positive experiences, I was now part of an environment where discontent was routine, and the pursuit of a fulfilling career was overshadowed by a prevailing sense of desperation and resignation. But I don’t do desperation or resignation. I’m like a heat-seeking missile when it comes to problem solving; a dog that just can’t let go of a bone (not always an enjoyable attribute for those around me). I needed a solution. So I set out to find one.
Of course you know, before solutions comes knowledge. Lucky for me, learning new things, new industries, new technologies, new functions, and new geographies, was the hallmark of my career. Instinctively, I set out to learn everything I could about what we need from work, what makes us happy at work, what drives engagement.
As I began to understand more about workplace happiness, I realized the depth of the problem. It wasn’t just me, or The Credit Suisse Group. Employees and employers all over the world urgently need a different, better approach to talent management. This increasingly took hold and called me to develop a solution.
In the years that followed, I learned several critical lessons about talent management. Firstly, I understood that a toxic work environment can become an accepted norm if left unchecked. Knowing this has led me to focus on creating tools and strategies for companies to hire for engagement and build workplaces where satisfaction and contribution are prioritized from the start.
Like any first-order solution, addressing the root causes of disengagement is paramount. It is key to transforming both individual experiences and organizational cultures, powerfully impacting employee quality of life and company bottom line.
*excerpted from “The Goldilocks Team: Master Retention and Hiring“
Minal Joshi Jaeckli is the founder of OpenElevator, a pioneering platform designed to help companies break the cycle of employee turnover through a proprietary, connection-driven system. Minal is author of “The Goldilocks Team: Master Retention and Hiring“. With this book, she guides mission-driven leaders on how to build top-performing teams. She provides a strategic blueprint for gaining an unfair advantage in employee retention and hiring success — helping leaders create winning teams that not only perform but also thrive.