CAN YOU PREDICT WHICH CANDIDATES WILL BE THE MOST ENGAGED EMPLOYEES?

As a broad range of research consistently demonstrates, engaged associates are happier at work, less cynical and have a positive impact on the morale of their colleagues.

The great news is that employers can now evaluate if candidates are more likely to be engaged. This is vital to those organizations trying hard to build and maintain associate motivation and productivity.

Today’s high performing organizations understand that high performance is more easily attained when your employees are engaged. However, up until now, engagement has been something of a lottery. No doubt, in any organization, some individuals will be highly engaged, and others won’t be.

But what if you could predict in advance whether or not your job candidates will be fully engaged in their work?

It’s easy to assume that disengaged employees are turned off by the tasks they are undertaking, their manager or by the environment in which they work. However, the truth might actually be that some of those individuals were never truly open to engagement – and they will be disengaged wherever they worked. In fact, new research reveals that certain people are “wired” for engagement, far more than others.

At WrightOne, we find that three specific personality traits contribute to an employee’s engagement:

Initiative (a willingness to act in the face of uncertainty)

Cooperation (a willingness to work with others and a belief in the value of teamwork)

Achievement/effort (an intrinsic motivation to do well)

Each of us has these traits; we just have them at different levels. If someone scores highly on all three traits, they’re more likely to feel engaged by their work. However, it is also important to remember that an associate’s level of engagement will also depend on the context of the situation, their managers, their colleagues, and their role. For example, if you hire engageable people but then give them boring tasks or a bad manager, their engagement can nosedive. There’s a limit to what even the most achievement-oriented person can endure.

Employers need to leverage the traits, strengths, and skills of their employees if they want engagement to thrive in their organization. However, one other “secret of success” is to hire those who are at least engageable at the outset.