It’s official. More than half of the Kiwi workforce thinks their job is just one big yawn and they’re just there for the pay cheque.

Reading that headline today over the shoulder of a fellow train passenger sent shock waves through my system. After all, there’s so much hype about staff engagement and leadership these days - hasn’t any of it taken effect?

The new survey by Leadership Management Australasia showed that nearly half of the respondents were considering looking for a new job while 62 per cent either hated or were ambivalent about their work.

That translates into a large chunk of our workers who will be pretty sluggish in their productivity; after all, they simply don’t really care.

Which ponders the question, why? 

Part of the reason I was so surprised by this research is that I’m obviously in the minority of people who actually enjoy their job. The main reason being that my employers are enlightened enough to have invested heavily in making people a priority – the ROI being an engaged and productive team.

The thing is that I can identify with those 60 per cent of workers who hate their job. Prior to this position I lived in dread of a dead-end, office-bound life of nine to five misery.

Thankfully, in this position my fears remain unrealised and instead I’m consistently surprised by how much of a thrill I get out of working in place that honours its people, teases out their talents and provides a fun and supportive work environment to boot.

To use those hackneyed terms – it is a very ’flexible’ work environment with lots of supportive and open-minded ‘leadership’ and an ‘engaged’ team of people.

In the past few years the employment sector has started to use these concepts as a way to attract and retain great staff.  But, based on the results of this latest survey, it seems there’s still much room for improvement.

It makes sense to create a workplace culture that succeeds by honouring its people, teasing out and growing their individual skills and providing them with the tools that help them work to these strengths.

The outcome is a team that is engaged, productive, effective and efficient; simply because each member is allowed to do what they do best.

I believe a key to such a successful and productive team is great leadership. Not a hierarchical system of managers and subordinates, but leadership that is open and receptive and encourages people to act on what is important to them. 

Transparency and reflective communication are also key; not only engaging staff but drawing on their wealth of client knowledge and creative ideas to advance the business. Is this something highly managed workplaces miss out on?

Maybe it’s time more employers – small and large – start looking at putting the theory behind great leadership and people practices into practice.