Does money really bring work engagement?
Are we so caught up in the data that we lean in on numerical certainty in places where it doesn't measure much of anything?
At the risk of sounding wildly un-capitalist, money doesn’t sway me. I need the adventure. Connection to the work is what I am chasing. If I am connected to the work, I can navigate a whole lot of other things.
And I am not alone in this.
Humans enjoy working, mostly. Work itself isn’t stressful. We can find meaning and productivity within.
But badly designed jobs are another story. They cause work stress. And it doesn’t matter if that design is from a boss, a client, or from how you run things as a freelancer, that stress is real.
Having no influence over when and how you carry out a task takes its toll. So much so, the 12% of freelancers who walked out of traditional work environments due to bullying or issues with work mention the lack of autonomy as a big problem. It infantilises people. No power, no status – these things pale into insignificance when greeted with this chaotic loss of control.
People don’t need gym memberships. They need autonomy.
Workers don’t need surveillance. They need pride in their work product.
Creatives don’t need foosball to unwind. They need the ability to take creative risks with safety.
Why then do we keep circling around the workplace wellbeing drain talking of numbers incessantly?
Image: a doll lies prone on the floor with money around her after being spun in a sales funnel
The problem with the work engagement narrative
According to Gallup, active disengagement in Australia shows only 21% of workers are engaged, 87% are not engaged, and 12% are actively disengaged. This is the same place that gives disengagement a cost of approximately $450 to $550 billion in the USA.
Cue the conversations and muttered asides about Australian work ethic and dropping productivity, Zoomers and their live-to-work habits, and conservative politicians questioning the validity of entire sections of employment steeped in the old “disabled = unproductive” chestnut.
But what is really happening is that outside inflation crisis and recessive markets, people don’t want to make profit-driven work metrics our key point indicator for existence.
And why would we?
We can’t ignore climate change anymore. Nor can we ignore that attempts to give wellbeing a dollar amount have largely failed, and depression is linked to our experience of inequality.
The hyper-competitiveness of capitalism as a free market has become self-commodification under late-stage capitalism. But we don’t blink at this concept of being a product. Just look at everyone turning themselves into AI toy dolls for the LinkedIn posts without realising what this says about how we package the working – or the human - experience.
Yet we know on some level this adulation for metric-based proof of success isn’t serving us. Psychologist Tim Kasser has proven centring aspirational values on money, status, and power create a higher risk of and deeper levels of depression. The never-ending competitiveness erodes our ability to self-actualise. And that lower degree of self-actualisation ends up dissuading participation in the workforce.
Who would have thought multiple kicks to the economic guts, we finally get the message that the winning will never be for us? Or that a growing number of marketing and salespeople are far more interested in not following the next wave of the broligarchy into extra study, greater devotion, and less return?
Psychic maximisation and profit maximisation have become intertwined. But perhaps we’re choosing to unbraid them, even if we don’t know it yet.
Welcome back to reality
The shine has come off the money = happiness productivity lure. We know that even if we work long and hard enough, what we’ll receive is simply more long, hard work. We know that if we follow the steps to wealth, it is a pathway that increasingly leads us away from our fellow human being. That this learned detachment is a necessary part of playing the game to win as it becomes increasingly a pyramid of opportunity.
If you do play the game, even the happiness you’re promised doesn’t materialise. Only more material items, greater debt, and more reasons to make even more money. And likely, more reason to be dissatisfied and try to fix it by hitting another milestone.
But you’ve got to hand it to human ingenuity. Instead of facing the issues with work, how we feel, and how wellbeing is monetised and functionalised, we instead pretend the hard work doesn’t just turn into wealth. It is wealth that grows while you’re busy not doing anything.
We’ve monetised the idea of not working, bypassing the hustle treadmill, to live a life without a job and an economic or a hedonic treadmill. That is, if only you get curious and have me show you how as you buy my next six figure course offering.
How then do we break the cycle?
If we are to challenge the idea that money isn’t proof of much to do with your working life other than you are good at making money, we also need to accept some realities.
Visible busyness and productive work are not interchangeable
Our desire to live in public via social media, collaborative online tools, meetings, and emails (as a starting point) has given us a screwy idea about work: we need to be seen to be doing it to be doing enough. That's why articles against remote work focus on the failure to adequately monitor employees and rarely touch on work product. We can and do some of our better work with no onlookers or visible snail trail. It is only a lack of trust combined with an outdated idea of management that tells us otherwise.
We don’t have to love a job to be good at it
We can be good at things without loving them. We can love things we are not good at. Moving away from the idea that working magic only happens with some deep enduring passion may prove to be a relief to many who struggle to connect in the way Instagram videos say we should. It would certainly remove the curious problem we have with underpaying sectors where the satisfaction and enjoyment are payment enough like the arts, nursing, teaching, social work, and social justice.
Privilege plays a big part in access to money = love working lives
Pre-existing privilege as an experience or mindset influence is not talked about enough in “just raise your prices” circles. Risking it all after experiencing poverty is entirely different to taking a risk and living on a continuum of wealth and privilege should you fail. Poverty is pervasive. It influences you economically, socially, psychologically, and in relation to risk tolerance and mindset. Engaging with work to survive is not the same as engaging with it out of choice.
Stop looking at numbers as proof of everything
I like data, I do. But I also think we’ve gone a little bit too far into the rabbit hole looking for data-driven certainty. Sure, we can measure wealth and analytics. But at a certain point, we must let go of the control data gives us and face our discomfort with uncertainty. Or else, we'll lose a bunch of opportunities by being too worried about the outcome to experiment. Numbers aren’t always the proof that we need.
Look at things from a different perspective
We all know a lack of commitment by employees means issues with disengagement, lowered productivity, and a failure by management to influence.
But what if we’re not quiet quitting?
Maybe we’re sitting at a unique juncture of climate anxiety meeting late-stage capitalism meaning we feel compelled to focus on bigger things than company profitability.
What if the not-so-distant memories of lockdowns taught workers the value of things other than money or externalised achievement?
Or here’s an idea – what if our relationship with work is simply finally maturing not to be something akin to an unhealthy co-dependency?
Reflecting in your worktime engagement
· Am I feeling curious about the work in front of me?
· How much of the workday am I experiencing the flow sensation?
· Do I routinely feel energised by work and what I achieve rather than drained, bored, or numb?
· When I think about upcoming projects, do I feel interested and curious or indifference and dread?
· Am I connected in a meaningful way to my work outcomes and outputs?
· Am I pushing forward with the progress out of a desire for challenge and to satiate curiosity, or because I want to control, own, and protect my patch?
· Does my work feel respected and defined by impact?
· How would you define that impact on a personal, professional, and industry level?
Want to meet up and talk about interesting things?
Uncover Bluesky with Dr Annetta Mallon as we explore it for connection and care online on June 13th.
Hear about my take on at the Huskisson Cinema in Huskisson, Thursday 26 June 2025 – bookings available soon via the South Coast Arts website.
LinkedIn expert Karen Hollenbach joins us to look at how to set up a portfolio career effectively via LinkedIn on July 21st (while using my profile as an example *gulp*)
The Creative Business Summit – one great day in Kiama hearing from a bunch of local creative legends on August 14th. I’m talking about self-care for the self-employed. Come join me!