It’s the holy grail for HR leads and business heads in any company. A highly engaged and passionate workforce that produces incredible work, boasts excellent productivity and oozes positivity at every workstation.

But whilst intrinsically linked, engagement and passion are not one and the same. So what’s the difference between the two?

Engagement is a medium-term hit of job appreciation, motivation and feeling of being an important cog in the working machine. It boosts productivity and improves outcomes, fosters collaboration and improved employee relations.

Passion is the end goal of all employee recognition and engagement strategies implemented. It’s long-term, intoxicatingly motivational and pushes that desire to achieve at every step and corner.

Both are vitally important for the creation of a productive workforce and promoting company loyalty too. A slump in engagement can result in stunted output rates, increasing sick days and high staff turnover too, whilst lack of real passion for a job can see employees fail to contribute to their maximum on a day to day basis. In fact, an incredible 90% of Americans in a study by Deloitte University Press suggested they didn’t reach their full job potential due to a lacking passion for the job.

So yes, passion is the end goal - the perfect product of a highly effective, appreciated and motivated team. But it all starts with engagement.

So how can you set about engaging a workforce? Three ways that you can begin to build the passion by boosting employee engagement include:

Recognition: put in place a recognition program designed to appreciate those who have delivered for your business. Employees that feel their efforts are seen and appreciated gain a boost in motivation and strive to continue delivering for the company and their bosses.

Rewards: create a rewards program based on either operational or performance factors - or indeed both. Perhaps not as effective in the long run as frequent and timely recognition, but rewards based on achievement can drive performance and productivity. Operational rewards, such as bonuses for time-served milestones, can help build longer-lasting business loyalty too.

Development: One of the top-cited reasons for millennials, in particular, leaving jobs is the lack of career progression and ability to learn that their workplace has to offer. Buck this trend by actively promoting both on-site and off-site learning opportunities for employees, as well as setting clear development and progression pathways from day one for new recruits.

And what’s the end result? The noticeable change and impact of a well-run employee engagement program and resultant passionate employees?

You’ll notice an increase in energy, a growing ability to overcome challenges to deliver results, more loyalty, a want to find new and better solutions, peer-to-peer inspiration and workplace inclusion.

How does your company approach creating passion for work amongst the workforce? Let me know in the comments below!