Reimagining Work as a Product – HBR.org Daily
Explore HBR
Popular Topics
For Subscribers
My Account
If companies listen to employees the way they do customers, they can increase retention and engagement.
Is there a better way to approach the employee experience? The authors challenge traditional paradigms by proposing that work be viewed as a product employers offer to employees. Drawing on the jobs to be done theory, they suggest that employees “hire” their jobs to fulfill specific needs, much as customers choose products. This perspective shifts the focus from maximizing productivity to something akin to customer satisfaction. Eric Anicich and Dart Lindsley argue that reimagining work as a product not only addresses the disengagement and dissatisfaction rampant in the workforce but also aligns employees’ needs with organizational goals.
Despite a century of research on work design, managers continue to struggle to deliver a positive employee experience. Trends that emerged in the post-Covid labor market, from quiet quitting to heated disputes over return-to-work policies, laid bare a stark reality: Many employees are dissatisfied with the experience their jobs offer. People stay in roles out of necessity rather than loyalty—an unsustainable arrangement that results in predictably low engagement.
Explore HBR
HBR Store
About HBR
Manage My Account
Follow HBR
Harvard Business Publishing:
Copyright ©2024 Harvard Business School Publishing. All rights reserved. Harvard Business Publishing is an affiliate of Harvard Business School.
source
This is a newsfeed from leading technology publications. No additional editorial review has been performed before posting.
