Let me introduce you to Severance if you’re not already a fan. If you are already a Severance fan, you can skip the first paragraph. You’ll still want to read what follows. )
Imagine you wake up in an empty room with no idea why you’re there. A hidden voice is crackling a series questions through the speaker on the desk. The doors are locked and you try to escape. The voice asks, “Who are You?” You can’t answer. You do not know the answer. You can’t remember your first name. The voice asks, “Where were your parents born?” You don’t remember. You don’t remember even the colour of your mom’s eyes. The voice ticks off your answers: “Unknown, Unknown, Unknown”, “Perfect Score”, and then, a man appears from an observation booth, telling you about your new job at Lumon Industries.
Work in a dystopian world
This is the premise behind Severance the Apple TV series that just finished its second season. As a management and leadership trainer, I was fascinated by the dystopian portrayal of the workplace in the first season. I wonder if the show resonates with audiences so much because it taps real-world fears despite its sci fi surrealism.
Gallup data tells it all
Are there any viewers who feel a twinge when they see the fluorescent-lit offices in the show, or their mindless corporate tasks, and ritualistic performances?
Gallup’s report 2024 The State of the Global Workplace shows that 90% of UK employees are unenthusiastic and 60% have admitted to ‘quietly quitting’. While the dystopian nightmare Severance may be fictional, emotional “severance” at work is a critical business challenge. Many workers feel uninspired, unmotivated, and disconnected.
My solution is not just better benefits and pay rises, but also in culture, leadership and real human connection. First, let’s look at a warning from the popular US drama.
The Severance Workplace: A cautionary tale
Apple TV’s Severance, directed by Ben Stiller, shows employees of Lumon Industries undergoing a biomedical surgery that divides their conscious between work and private life.
The ‘innies,’ or ‘work selves,’ exist only in the office. They perform monotonous, seemingly meaningless, tasks, with no memory of their life before the procedure. The extreme separation of the ‘innies’ from their jobs reduces their work to a robotic existence.
A corporate culture satire
Severance is so compelling because it satirizes corporate culture’s attempts to engage. Lumon does not ignore the need for motivation in its employees – but it gets it all wrong. The bizarre and childish ‘wellness’ sessions are used to hypnotise employees into feeling positive. In a soothing, monotonous voice, the wellness counselor, Ms. Casey tells Mark: “Your outie’s a generous and kind person.” Your outie enjoys films and grilled-cheese. Your outie loves music. The exercise was meant to create a connection between Mark and his Lumon colleagues, but the artificiality of its script only highlighted their alienation.
Innies are given meaningless rewards throughout the show. These include waffle parties, music dance experiences and other such things. Dylan’s exclamation, “I am getting perks!” when he sees a finger trap toy is a clear indication of the absurdity of corporate rewards.
Kier Eagan’s near-religious cult is what holds together this muddle of corporate manipulation. His words and images dominate Lumon like a holy text. This vision-driven messianic culture is similar to how some large businesses create grandiose missions statements to inspire staff loyalty, without providing real support or transparency.
Learn from Severance and reconnect your employees
Gallup’s 2024 report indicates that while most workplaces aren’t quite as extreme as Lumon’s, many employees feel a kind of emotional “severance” at work. The employees may show up every day and do their jobs. Many people do this without feeling any personal connection to the mission of their organization, their co-workers or their own potential.
Businesses that want to move away from the disengaged Severance culture must create an environment where employees feel valued and motivated. Gallup’s report shows that employees are more engaged when they have meaningful work, supportive leaders and development opportunities.
Here are some ways you can put these insights into practice:
Give work meaning
Employees need to know why they are doing their jobs. Communicate your mission, and explain how each person’s role fits into the larger picture.
Promote autonomy and curiosity
Employees are more engaged if they can ask questions, be innovative and take control of their roles. Encourage curiosity and autonomy. Don’t suppress it.
Build real relationships
Encourage genuine team bonds through collaboration, mentoring and social engagement. This will help employees to feel more connected. Gallup says that having a friend at work who is a good fit for you can be predicting your engagement.
Recognize and reward effort
Employees require validation. Avoid Lumon’s cryptic reward system and instead implement meaningful recognition strategies aligned with your personal and organizational goals. Gallup says that employees who don’t feel appreciated are twice as likely quit.
Create growth opportunities
Avoid Lumon’s mistake of giving your employees a never-ending loop of repetitive tasks with no opportunity for growth.
To keep employees invested and engaged, provide learning opportunities and career advancement. According to Gallup research, lack of growth is the leading cause of employee disengagement.
HR’s role to break the cycle
The UK engagement crisis is not insurmountable. Fixing it will require a shift away from dispiriting and disconnected work environments to cultures where employees are genuinely engaged in the mission. We must make work a workplace where people really want, and not a place they know they need .
Mark said: “We are people, not pieces of people.” Employees aren’t just interchangeable cogs. No matter how disengaged they feel, meaningful engagement can be achieved when organisations start to treat their employees as individuals with a desire for purpose and belonging and not as just ‘work selves’.
