Increasing the Engagement of Millennials: Finding Autonomy and Salience in High Workload

This study developed an application for the job-demands-resources (JD-R) model of work engagement to test the moderating effects of quantitative workload on the relationship between job autonomy and work engagement in millennials. A cross-sectional study design was employed on 145 millennial employees in Indonesia. The Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES) was used to measure work engagement, the Autonomy Task Characteristic scale was used to measure job autonomy, and the Quantitative Workload Inventory (QWI) was used to measure quantitative workload. Regression analysis based on a simple moderation model was then applied to the results from which it was found that there was a positive and significant moderating effect of quantitative workload on the relationship between job autonomy and work engagement. The results clearly expanded the job demands-resources (JD-R) model and suggested that job autonomy as a job resource had the salience to increase the work engagement of the millennial generation in a high workload (quantitative workload) context. The results of this study provide guidance to organizations in terms of the job demands and job resources to ensure millennial well-being and good job performance in Indonesia.