We’re not doing so great in Europe. Well, that’s according to the highly respected Jon Clifton and his buddies over at Gallup.
“It’s a great place to live, but a terrible place to work.” This has long been said about Spain, but is it true of all of Europe?
Jon Clifton at Twitter.com
If you’ve ever heard of Strengthsfinder, their newer version CliftonStrengths 34, or the insightful book ‘It’s the Manager,’ you’re probably familiar with Gallup, which concerns itself in their own words with ‘Analytics & Advice About Everything That Matters.’
This week Gallup released their State of the Global Workplace: 2022 Report. This is a thorough reflection on how we’re doing in the workplace globally. They interviewed 68,000 employees in over 140 countries worldwide about their work and lives. This stuff is gold.
There’s some very interesting graphs and numbers about how we’re all doing in our general wellbeing and workplace engagement.
If you watch the video or read the full report you will see that the overal consensus seems a bit grim, but Gallup remains hopeful. Thanks Gallup!
Now back to those darn Europeans. Mother Gallup seemed a little caught off guard at the report of how little Europe was misbehaving in the classroom of the global workplace. Something’s wrong when ‘Emloyee Engagement’ seems lowest in Europe, and one of the revelations is how many Europeans like to keep work separate from the rest of their lives.
So there you have it: European employees just don’t seem to care. That’s a sad thought.
How about a slightly different perspective in response from a humble European: could there be a possibility that Europeans do, in fact, care about their work, maybe just a little bit, but just not in a way that an American company would measure this type of care? If we don’t hang out with our colleagues after work, or respond to texts late at night, can we still care about our jobs between 9-5 or 10-12 or 7-11 for that matter?
Even though a lot of Gallup’s work and material is really impressive, I think I might have felt a little proud to disagree with them this time. Proud to say we Europeans know how to not take our work home and how to switch off our phones and just live our lives without it having to be centred around work only.
“Europeans work to live, not live to work.”
Jon Clifton and Pa Sinyan at Gallup.com
What a quote. I guess I’m so European that the only thing I was left thinking is, ‘how did they make that phrase sound like that’s the wrong option?’ I chuckled at the thought and finally admitted to feeling proud to be wrong in Gallup’s eyes.
But that’s work and who cares about work anyway?