A good job on the wrong team can still be a bad experience.
I think managers sometimes underestimate how much of an employee’s experience is shaped by the people around the work rather than the work itself.
Someone can like their responsibilities, feel fairly paid, believe in the company, and still be miserable because the team around them is tense, political, cliquish, or simply a poor fit.
That matters because it changes how you interpret engagement problems. If an employee is withdrawing, frustrated, or thinking about leaving, the instinct may be to look at the role itself: Is the work challenging enough? Do they need more responsibility? Do they need a promotion?
Sometimes the job is fine, but the team is the problem.
Maybe the employee never feels fully included, they don’t trust the people they work with, or every meeting requires too much emotional energy.
The work can still be meaningful, even when the experience of doing it becomes exhausting. That’s why I think managers need to look at more than whether someone is in the right role. They also need to ask whether the person is in the right social environment to do that role well.
References: Berne E. The structure and dynamics of organizations and groups. 1963.