職場往往給人的感覺是時不我待，只爭朝夕。

每天的任務(wù)截止期限和短期目標，要優(yōu)先于長期目標。今天的需求看起來比明天的計劃更為緊迫。人們經(jīng)常會因為眼前的一棵樹而忽視整個森林。

但雇主若想提高員工的敬業(yè)度，考慮未來至關(guān)重要。

達頓商學(xué)院領(lǐng)導(dǎo)力與組織行為學(xué)教授莫瑞拉?埃爾南德斯和博士后研究員克里斯蒂安諾?L?瓜拉納認為：“不止關(guān)注眼前，同時考慮員工未來需求與回報預(yù)期的組織，在提高工作敬業(yè)度方面更有優(yōu)勢?！?/p>

為了深入了解時間與員工敬業(yè)度之間的關(guān)系，埃爾南德斯和瓜拉納最近對眾多科技公司的數(shù)百名員工進行了調(diào)查。根據(jù)對超過200名受訪者的調(diào)查結(jié)果，他們發(fā)現(xiàn)，工作敬業(yè)度不僅會受到員工當前情況的影響，也會受到其對未來的期望的影響。

埃爾南德斯與瓜拉納特別研究了影響工作敬業(yè)度的三個因素：心理意義、心理可獲得性和心理安全。在心理意義方面，他們發(fā)現(xiàn)，如果員工不僅認為他們目前的投入能夠帶來回報，而且相信未來的努力可以帶來更多回報，員工的敬業(yè)度會顯著提高。

未來預(yù)期對心理可獲得性同樣重要，或者說，員工會感覺他們擁有完成一項任務(wù)的物質(zhì)和情感資源。在員工相信他們可以獲得迎接未來挑戰(zhàn)的時間、財力和人力的情況下，可獲得性可以帶來最高的敬業(yè)度。

埃爾南德斯與瓜拉納表示：“盡管目前的經(jīng)歷是預(yù)測工作敬業(yè)度的一個重要指標，但在一名員工漫長的職業(yè)生涯當中，這只是一段小插曲而已?！?/p>

心理安全是源于當前的一個敬業(yè)度因素。對此一個可行的解釋是，心理安全，也就是即便犯錯也不會導(dǎo)致失業(yè)或信譽受損的感覺，與迫在眉睫的生存努力有關(guān)，這也使得當前的情況比未經(jīng)證實的未來可能性更加重要。

對于雇主如何實際運用這些調(diào)查結(jié)果，埃爾南德斯提出了幾條建議：

首先，在招聘、培養(yǎng)和提拔人才時，雇主必須始終將未來記在心中。在初期，招聘者應(yīng)該提供對職位空缺的明確說明，幫助求職者從短期和長期兩個方面評估公司是否合適。

其次，在聘用員工之后，埃爾南德斯建議，確立更加整體性的培訓(xùn)思路，將個人目前和未來的職位預(yù)期考慮在內(nèi)。雖然新人剛?cè)胄袝r可能接受一份初級工作，但了解其終極志向?qū)净蛟S會有所幫助。這樣不僅可以節(jié)省未來的時間，還可以讓員工走上正軌，最大限度開發(fā)自己的潛力，提高敬業(yè)度。

第三，員工成功加入團隊，開始投入工作之后，管理者應(yīng)該強調(diào)員工目前可以獲得的回報，以及未來工作崗位可以提供的潛在資源。公司如果能夠為員工規(guī)劃出職業(yè)發(fā)展路徑，可大幅提高員工敬業(yè)度，實現(xiàn)更高的員工保留率。畢竟，即便員工目前感覺勞累過度或被低估，只要公司承諾事情會變得更好或者他們最終必能得到升職，便可以消除員工這些糟糕的負面情緒。

埃爾南德斯還為雇主門帶來了一條好消息。雖然未來和預(yù)期的情況會影響員工敬業(yè)度，但過去的情況通常不會對敬業(yè)度產(chǎn)生影響。即便員工對過去的獎勵或認同感到失望，但他們不太可能浪費時間去反復(fù)考慮已經(jīng)發(fā)生過的事情。事實上，員工更關(guān)注現(xiàn)在和未來的可能性。

埃爾南德斯與瓜拉納說道：“員工并不會糾結(jié)于過去的情況，相反，工作給員工帶來的意義，會讓他們更專注于當前和未來的職位?！?/p>

另外值得注意的是，組織認同，或者員工對一家公司的歸屬感，其重要性通常會超過其他影響工作敬業(yè)度的因素。埃爾南德斯與瓜拉納表示：“如果一個人認同公司，他或她會關(guān)注自己與其他團隊成員有哪些共同之處。他們會接受公司的價值觀，并親自踐行他們共同的信仰?！?/p>

反之，如果公司的組織認同度過低，則其他三個因素會變得更加重要。

總而言之，埃爾南德斯與瓜拉納提醒雇主和研究人員，在探討工作敬業(yè)度的時候，不要忘記時間這個因素。因為沒有比現(xiàn)在更好的時間——有時候，未來除外。（財富中文網(wǎng)）

達頓商學(xué)院教授莫瑞拉?埃爾南德斯與博士后研究員克里斯蒂安諾?瓜拉納共同在《管理雜志》（Journal of Management）上發(fā)表了“關(guān)于工作就業(yè)度的時間復(fù)雜性的探討”（An Examination of the Temporal Intricacies of Job Engagement）一文。

譯者:劉進龍/汪皓

In the workplace, it can often feel like there is no time but the present.

Daily deadlines and short-term goals can take precedence over longer term objectives. The demands of today can seem more pressing than the plans for tomorrow. The size and shape of the forest can be lost behind the trees directly ahead.

But for employers looking to increase engagement, it is important to think about the future.

“Organizations that attend to not only the current but also the expected future needs and rewards of their employees will be well positioned to build job engagement,” said Morela Hernandez, a Darden professor of leadership and organizational behavior, and Cristiano L. Guarana, a postdoctoral research associate at Darden.

Looking to better understand the relationship between time and engagement, Hernandez and Guarana recently surveyed hundreds of employees at a large diversified technology company. Based on results from more than 200 respondents, they found job engagement is not only heavily influenced by a worker’s current circumstances, but also by his or her expectations for the future.

In particular, Hernandez and Guarana looked at three factors that drive job engagement: psychological meaningfulness, availability and safety. In terms of meaningfulness, they noted greater job engagement occurred when employees not only believed their current efforts would create a sense of return, but also that their future labors would lead to increased rewards later on.

Forward-looking expectations were also important to psychological availability, or workers feeling they had the physical and emotional resources to complete a task. Availability led to the greatest engagement when employees felt confident they would have the time, funding and personnel to take on a future challenge.

“Current experiences, although important and significant predictors of job engagement, are episodes within the larger scope of an employee’s career,” Hernandez and Guarana said.

Psychological safety was the one engagement factor that remained firmly rooted in the present. One possible explanation for this is that safety — the feeling that you won’t lose your job or reputation if you make a mistake — is linked to imminent survival efforts, making current circumstances far more important than unproven possibilities.

As for how employers can make practical use of these findings, Hernandez has a few tips:

First, employers should keep the future in mind in all stages of hiring, developing and promoting talent. Early on, recruiters should provide a clear job description of an open position to help job seekers evaluate whether the company will be a good fit, both in the near term and the long term.

Second, once an employee is hired, Hernandez recommends developing a more holistic perspective to training that takes into consideration a person’s current and future role expectations. Though a new hire might take an entry level position to get a foot in the door, it might be useful to know where that person’s ultimate ambitions lie. This can save time later on and put a worker on a track toward maximizing his or her potential and engagement.

Third, after an employee has been fully brought on board and begun working, managers should highlight both current rewards and the potential resources offered in future roles. Companies that are able to map out how a worker can move forward in his or her career are likely to see higher engagement and also possibly higher retention. After all, even if an employee feels overworked or underappreciated at present, the promise that things will get better or that a promotion is eventually in store could smooth over the worst of those negative feelings.

Hernandez does have a bit of good news for employers. While present and anticipated conditions can affect an employee’s engagement, past circumstances generally do not. Even if an employee has suffered disappointments in the past with regards to rewards or recognition, he or she probably isn’t wasting time ruminating on what has been. Instead, the employee is more focused on what is and what could be.

“Rather than dwelling on past circumstances, the meaningfulness individuals experience at work tends to drive their attention toward current and future job roles,” Hernandez and Guarana said.

Also important to note is that organizational identification — an employee’s sense of belonging within a company — can often trump the other factors that drive job engagement. “When individuals identify with their organizations, they pay attention to what they have in common with other organizational members,” Hernandez and Guarana said. “They internalize the organization’s values and personally embody its shared beliefs.”

On the flipside, for companies where organizational identification is low, the other three factors take on even greater importance.

All in all, Hernandez and Guarana caution employers and researchers not to forget about time when exploring the issue of job engagement. Because there is no time like the present — except, sometimes, the future.

Darden Professor Morela Hernandez and postdoctoral Research Associate Cristiano Guarana co-authored “An Examination of the Temporal Intricacies of Job Engagement,” published in theJournal of Management.