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Researchers have developed a new metric that they say gives HR leaders a diagnostic lens for job design, employee development, and retention strategies.

In their paper, published in Human Resource Management, a team of nine Canadian researchers introduce "love of the job" (LOJ), a measure that simultaneously captures an employee's enthusiasm for the tasks they perform, the people they work with, and the organisation they work for.

Drawing on Robert Sternberg's triangular theory of love (whereby love comprises varying degrees and combinations of intimacy, passion, and commitment), the researchers created a scale to measure work-related passion (1–3), commitment (4–6), and intimacy (7–9) via nine statements: My work is more than a job to me, it is a passion; I am excited to do my job each day; I adore what I do at work; I love the organisation for which I work; I really feel as if this organisation's problems are my own; this organisation has a great deal of personal meaning for me; I love the people I work with; I feel very close to the people at work; and we can confide in each other at work.

Importantly, the authors argue love of the job is not simply a stronger form of engagement or satisfaction, but rather a distinct, "higher order" form of attachment...