Flow at Work: An Investigation, Whitepaper co-written with Deloitte’s Center for the Edge

While a 2013 study by McKinsey conveyed the results of a decade’s worth of data from senior executives claiming a 500% performance improvement while in flow, little work has been done since on combining the concept of flow with industry standard measures of worker engagement. To fill this gap, Flow Research Collective and Deloitte’s Center for the Edge teamed up to compare flow experienced on the job to Deloitte’s standard metrics for engagement. 26 companies participated resulting in survey data collected from 115 employees. Results demonstrated a statistically significant positive correlation between flow and happiness at work, motivation to have impact, and actively seeking challenges. Items such as being proud to work for one’s company were not significant, showing the perceived value of the work itself as more valuable than work for a specific company. These findings show a clear relationship between flow research (including the autotelic personality) and metrics from one of the world’s premiere consulting firms.

View the full paper here