Bored employees can benefit from enriching work with variety.
Job enrichment is a concept used in many companies of all sizes, operating in all types of industries. Frederick Herzberg is credited with creating the concept in the 1950s, as well as coining the concept’s name. It is used in companies to motivate employees, allowing them to take on a range of responsibilities, allowing them to use a variety of their talents, skills, and abilities. Job enrichment, also described as vertical loading, is often contrasted with the concept of job enlargement, which is described as horizontal loading. It was developed primarily to increase the internal motivation of an organization’s employees.
Employees who experience frequent boredom are likely to lag behind in their productivity levels.
There are several ways that can be used to introduce job enrichment. Most companies develop a detailed plan, as this allows them to identify their goals for implementing the concept, ultimately allowing them to achieve those goals. Along with developing a detailed plan, most companies ensure that their employees have the resources available to effectively perform the tasks assigned to them. Without the right tools, employees will feel discouraged, which defeats the whole purpose of implementing the concept. In addition to a detailed plan and the right tools, companies have also discovered the importance of maintaining open communication so that job enrichment goals can be achieved.
Many companies that use job enrichment will provide their employees with an increased number of tasks as well as increased decision-making authority. Increasing these two areas tends to increase employees’ work productivity because it fuels their motivation at work. Along with increased labor productivity, many companies are also experiencing decreased absenteeism. Both of these increases lead to a marked improvement in an organization’s profit levels. Many companies find that they must develop a job enrichment plan for each individual, since the motivating factors of each employee are often different.
The best way to employ job enrichment is through top management. C-suite employees find that including variety in their job enrichment plans allows them to significantly increase employee satisfaction by decreasing employee boredom. This is one of the main reasons why this concept is commonly used. Employees who experience boredom in the workplace often fall behind in their productivity levels and sometimes leave to find more fulfilling employment. Employing this concept allows a company to retain its best employees, stimulating employee interest and improving work environments.