5 Strategies To Boost Employee Engagement In The Workplace

Employee engagement is a significant concern with all the changes in work and life—including hybrid and remote work. And the bad news is that it has hit a historically low level. The shifts in the work landscape aren't working for people, negatively impacting companies.

Workforce engagement matters because it is linked with effort, innovation, productivity, and retention. In a competitive landscape with a talent shortage, it can make or break a company, its culture, its performance, and its ability to succeed.

However, there are ways to boost engagement and create the conditions for people to bring their best, have a positive work experience, and contribute to organisational results.

Employee Engagement Defined

But what is employee engagement? Fundamentally, it is commitment, dedication and the energy people put into their work. It is related to the emotional connection people feel—and the effort they invest as a result.

Engagement is evident through the outcomes it produces—like productivity, innovation, and retention—but engagement is also apparent through the behaviours people demonstrate—individually, as part of teams, and overall within the organisation.

On an individual level, employee engagement looks like people who follow through, follow up on their work, and are responsive to colleagues. People who are engaged are responsive and interested and share ideas. You can see engagement when people advocate for ideas, listen to colleagues and deliver results. When people are employed, they recognise colleagues and participate in celebrating accomplishments.

At a team level, engagement is also apparent in many ways. Often, teams suggest more ideas and innovations. Engaged teams tend to get more done and have more fun doing it. When teams are engaged, they also tend to have more lively dialogues and healthy disagreements as they incorporate multiple points of view. Engaged teams tend to organise work to align people's skills and responsibilities. They also give each other feedback and support and celebrate wins together.

Across the organisation, engagement is apparent when people are aligned and speak the same language. People in an engaged organisation tend to volunteer for projects and suggest new or better ways of doing things. They constructively handle conflict—listening, working through issues and coming to positive resolution.

Employees also show up—literally and figuratively—enjoying their work and time with colleagues. In a high-engagement culture, people will likely grow through multiple roles, developing with the company over time.

The Importance Of Employee Engagement

Employee engagement delivers tremendous results, and the benefits of an engaged workforce are significant. With greater levels of workforce engagement, organisations see higher productivity, quality of work, profitability and employee retention. Employee engagement is also correlated with better customer service and reduced safety incidents. All of this is according to Gallup data.

But how does it work? And how does employee engagement improve efficiency or productivity? When people are engaged, they are more committed to doing great work. They invest effort and energy and get things done. This results in greater productivity. In addition, when people are engaged, they dedicate themselves to tasks and seek better ways to do things—resulting in greater efficiency.

Likewise, employee engagement improves work culture. Culture is collective behaviour and "the way things get done around here",—and engagement can affect the whole.

According to research published in the Journal of Labour Economics, when people are more engaged and perform better, they tend to affect others. Essentially, engagement by one or a few affects the broader culture regarding performance.

In addition, a relationship exists between engagement, productivity and satisfaction, based on research published in the Association for Psychological Science. More engaged people tend to be more productive and satisfied. And when they are more productive, they tend to be more satisfied and engaged—and so on. Each of these influences the others—and the culture as a whole.

The bottom line is that engagement puts all kinds of positive elements in motion—driving the motivation for collective behaviour, which leads to impressive outcomes for people and the organisation.

How Can Leaders Improve Employee Engagement?

So, what can leaders do to increase employee engagement in the office? And what can leaders do to increase engagement among remote workers?

Leaders can take these key actions to affect individual, team and organisational engagement positively—no matter where people work.

1. Increase Engagement With Purpose And Clear Expectations

Whether people are working in the office or away from it, leaders can positively affect employee engagement by inspiring people with the bigger picture and setting clear expectations.

When people have a greater sense of purpose, they believe their work has more meaning, according to studies at Northwestern University—and feeling that work matters is an ingredient for engagement.

Similarly, when leaders share purpose, vision, commitment, and strong morals, research at the University of Sussex found that people are happier and more productive, positively affecting engagement.

Let people know about the big picture the organisation is seeking to accomplish and be clear about how their work contributes to it—and how their efforts also make an impact. Set clear expectations for performance and outcomes—so people know what to strive for and how to contribute most effectively.

2. Increase Engagement With Meaningful Work And Growth

Engagement is significantly driven by work that matches people's skills, talents and capabilities—today and tomorrow. You can positively affect engagement by aligning what people do with their preferences. And learn what they'd like to learn in the future.

Find out what people love and what motivates them—and give them tasks and responsibilities in this vein. Happiness is significantly correlated with performance, so when people can do great work, it affects esteem, joy and engagement.

In addition, ask people what they'd like to learn and in what directions they would like to grow—and provide learning opportunities that support the development they seek. People with greater organisational mobility are likelier to stay with it and engage over time.

No job will be idyllic, requiring only what people love to do, but align people and their responsibilities as much as possible—and give them opportunities to grow. These will pay off in terms of engagement.

3. Increase Engagement With Choice And Control

Another way to inspire engagement is to give people choice and control—as much as possible. When people have higher levels of flexibility, autonomy and power in their decision-making, they experience more excellent health and satisfaction—regardless of how much stress they face in their jobs, according to two different studies by Indiana University's Kelley School of Business.

People want to be trusted and treated like adults; when they are, they tend to be more engaged.

If people are working hybrid or remote, could you give them clear guardrails about when they must be in the office and when they can choose to work elsewhere? Of course, choices in where and when they work may not be possible for some jobs, but as much as possible, give people flexibility within appropriate guidelines.

No matter where people work, they should be provided as much autonomy as possible in organising their work and getting it done. Micromanaging works against engagement. Instead, set clear goals, outcomes and deadlines and provide plenty of latitude for people to accomplish results in the best way for them.

4. Increase Engagement With Presence And Accessibility

Another surefire way to increase engagement is to be present and accessible as a leader. This is important when working in the office and when working hybrid and remote.

Be accessible and responsive when people reach out, following up efficiently and answering questions thoroughly. In addition, be present with people. Pay attention to how they're doing and check in regularly—asking them how they are. Set aside devices or distractions when you're meeting with people—virtually or in person. Tune in, listen, empathise and support them.

People who feel you respect and value their work are more likely to be engaged. Reciprocity is a natural part of the human experience—and we tend to give more when we get more. Likewise, when you provide authentic attention, focus and recognition, people will respond with effort, energy and performance.

5. Increase Engagement with a Strong Culture

People value strong cultures in which values and norms are clear. They prefer "legibility"—meaning people and organisations are easily read. Based on this understanding, people know how they can engage and contribute to make an impact.

The most effective cultures are characterised by a clear mission, vision, direction, involvement, and participation—and when people are engaged, they can inspire each other and lean in to participate.

In addition, great cultures have consistency and transparent processes balanced with the capacity to adapt and learn—and these, too, are positively affected by employee engagement as people seek to improve things and grow based on their commitment and dedication.

Talk about your culture, including what you value and how you want to behave together. Obtain feedback from people about their experience and how you can continuously improve. People know things won't be perfect, and they will appreciate your effort to get better all the time.

Make Employee Engagement An Ongoing Effort

Of course, none of these are one-time strategies to check off the list. Engagement requires intentional effort and ongoing investment of time and energy. It pays off significantly but needs to be completed.

You'll need to reinforce the purpose continuously and keep performance expectations and goals current. It would be best to continually be attentive to people, their work, and what they'd like to learn next. You'll want to shift practices as work continues to evolve. You must develop your leadership skills—constantly improving to do your best for team members. And you must monitor and assess culture continuously.

Leaders have a significant impact on mental health and experience. And while this creates pressure, it is also a terrific opportunity to make a difference for people and the organisation.

Bottom Line

Give people a sense of purpose and meaningful work—and provide as much choice and control as possible. Be present and accessible to teammates. And continually sustain your culture.

These will drive engagement and performance—at individual, team and organisational levels—and positively affect people's happiness and fulfilment.

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