10 Employee Engagement Strategies That Really Work

Increasing employee engagement is a worthwhile pursuit for any employer looking to improve the profitability and productivity of their business. Engaging your employees can lead to higher customer satisfaction and loyalty, boost sales numbers, and encourage a vibrant, positive workplace to attract top-tier talent and consumers. 

Learn about employee engagement best practices and create an employee engagement action plan that suits your business needs. 

What is Employee Engagement?

Employee engagement measures how invested a company’s employees are in their daily work and the business’ overall success. Engaged employees feel a sense of purpose in their work and have a positive connection with their company. High levels of employee engagement improve organizational performance, promote talent retention, and foster customer loyalty. 

Actively engaged employees exhibit several positive behaviors and characteristics. They are:

• Optimistic 
• Solution-oriented
• Passionate about learning 
• Go the extra mile 
• Share credit but accept criticism 
• Team-oriented

A disengaged employee may be pessimistic, egocentric, or have a negative attitude. They tend to see their job as just a paycheck rather than an opportunity for growth and productivity.

Make Employee Engagement a breeze with Assembly. Schedule a demo today.

What are the Five Drivers of Employee Engagement?

Awareness of what drives employee engagement is the first step to optimizing your business. Learn strategies for increasing engagement and elevating your workplace to the next level.

1. Trust in leaders

Company leaders are responsible for establishing the standard for employee behavior and setting the tone of an office environment. Supportive leaders who recognize the value of their employees and provide them with clear direction can be the reason an employee chooses to stay with a company, while leaders who inspire stress and anxiety can lead to high turnover rates.

A 2018 study, conducted by the HR Research Institute, found that 77% of employees believe employee engagement is highly linked to leadership trust and supervisory relationships. 

Employees want their leaders to act with the same integrity and authenticity that their leaders expect from them. If employees do not trust their leaders, there is little chance of maximizing engagement. 

Employers can build trust with their employees with consistent actions. 

• Consistently practice open and honest communication 
• Provide employees with clear and direct feedback and be responsive to feedback 
• Trust employees with autonomy and responsibility 
• Equip employees with the resources they need to succeed

2. Opportunities for growth and learning

When faced with repetitive tasks and few opportunities for learning and development, employees may become disengaged in the workplace. A workplace boredom study conducted by Udemy Business determined that lack of opportunities to grow and learn was the top reason employees feel disengaged at work, with 80% of employees reporting that learning and development opportunities would increase their engagement. 

Employees want to gain new and expand existing skills, and when employers encourage the pursuit of learning and developing skills, workers respond positively. Try these strategies to provide your employees with growth opportunities on the job. 

• Offer varied training options that address a broad range of skills 
• Provide opportunities for an on-the-job experience such as stretch assignments and cross-functional rotations
• Implement a mentoring program 
• Try coaching exercises like role-playing, discussion activities, or games

In the long term, employees who believe their workplace provides them with opportunities to grow and learn have higher retention rates and overall employee engagement. 

3. Coworker relationships

Employees value productive, positive relationships with their coworkers. With the increase in remote work and the hyper-connectivity of the modern workplace, it is more important than ever for employers to help foster a positive sense of community amongst their employees. 

A study on employee engagement in the workplace found that employees who reported positive relationships with coworkers were much more likely to be engaged, while those who felt excluded or undervalued by their peers were far less enthusiastic and motivated in their jobs. 

Work environments that emphasize camaraderie and teamwork encourage employees to turn to their coworkers for advice, bond over shared experiences and engage with one another in brainstorming and other collaborative work sessions. If you’re looking to boost engagement and productivity in your business, focus on developing a sense of workplace community by offering opportunities for your employees to associate and connect. 

Make Employee Engagement a breeze with Assembly. Schedule a demo today.

4. Company values

Many employees select their job based on whether or not they find the company’s core values authentic and inspiring. Beyond posting a list of values on the company website or in an onboarding packet, employers need to live the values they promote and offer their employees opportunities to engage with those values. 

A study by IBM determined that 80% of employees felt more engaged when working on projects aligned with their company’s values. 

Establishing and communicating company values in a way that will resonate with your employees is crucial in increasing employee engagement. 

• Reinforce your company’s values in meetings and writing 
• Incorporate values into employee performance metrics
• If you are a company leader, model behavior that aligns with company values

5. Giving and receiving feedback

The most direct way to discover how to boost employee engagement is to ask your employees themselves. If you want to understand what your organization needs to retain an engaged workforce or if you’re looking for ways to improve productivity and employee satisfaction, your employees can provide crucial information. 

Employees who give feedback, even anonymously, feel empowered and valued. Asking your employees for input validates the experience of your workers and can bring about a more positive relationship between employees and employers. 

There are several ways to encourage and facilitate direct feedback. 

• Increase opportunities for peer-to-peer and manager-direct report shout-outs
• Establish an anonymous employee rating platform to facilitate 360-degree feedback 
• Try two-way feedback opportunities like forums or company-wide meetings that enable employees to share honest feedback with management
• Create a workplace environment hospitable to two-way feedback 

What is an Employment Engagement Strategy? 

In 2022, Gallup reported the first decrease in employee engagement in the United States in a decade, with only 34% of employees reporting workplace engagement. 16% of employees reported active disengagement, up from 14% in 2020. 

Gallup found the greatest declines in clarity of expectations, adequate equipment and materials, and overall opportunity for workers to flex their skills and show their potential. 

With the ratio of engaged to actively disengaged workers to engaged workers in the US at 2.1 to 1, employing strategies to increase employee engagement is more critical than ever. 

10 Effective Effective Engagement Strategies

If you’re hoping to increase employee engagement at your company, you can take steps to create a workplace where your workers can flourish. 

1. Build trust 

Employee engagement is built on trust; without it, your employees may feel micromanaged or unimportant. If employees feel a sense of autonomy and ownership over their job, their productivity generally rises. 

2. Get to know your people 

Familiarize yourself with your employees’ roles in the office and ask about their interests outside the workplace. Schedule regular check-ins to get to know your employees personally and professionally. Simply paying attention to your employees can work wonders in increasing work engagement.

3. Celebrate daily wins with peer-to-peer recognition 

Employee recognition is a great way to ensure high-performing employees continue to feel important. Celebrating small wins can help foster company loyalty and promote employee engagement. 

4. Offer opportunities for learning and continued education 

Learning shouldn’t stop when an employee enters the workforce. Make continuing education an essential aspect of company culture. Your employees will not only acquire new relevant skills but will engage more in the company because there are clear paths for career growth. 

5. Give your employees autonomy 

Increased autonomy tends to increase job satisfaction. Employees with autonomy feel more directly responsible for their work and go on to contribute in a more meaningful and impactful way. 

6. Encourage employee feedback 

Let your employees have a voice and listen to their concerns and suggestions. They are at the front line and may have ideas and access that you do not have as an employer. 

7. Create a psychologically safe workplace 

Bullying and toxicity have no place in a successful work environment and can lead to increased turnover. Employees need to be allowed to safely report their concerns without fear of repercussion. 

8. Foster a sense of community 

This strategy is particularly important when most or all of your team operates remotely. Try a virtual happy hour or a team-wide virtual game night to give your employees an opportunity to relax and come together. 

9. Operationalize company values 

A successful company culture tends to revolve around an ingrained set of values that employees believe in and internalize. Management’s active promotion of core principles can help build a supportive work community that inspires workers to align with a common mission. 

10. Provide employee perks and privileges 

As competition for top talent continues to skyrocket, it is essential to compensate loyal employees with perks beyond a salary. Perks often include continued education coverage, home office stipends, or commuter benefits. These extras can de-stress and rejuvenate your employees and keep them actively engaged.

‍Improve Employee Engagement and Satisfaction with Assembly

Higher employee engagement can be the difference between a good business and a great one. Use simple engagement strategies to increase productivity and profitability, retain workers, and create an environment for employees to flourish. 

Over 3,000 organizations rely on Assembly to promote employee engagement. Our user-friendly platform makes it easy to activate a high-performing workforce, celebrate employee achievements, and keep your company in the know. 

Discover what Assembly can do for you today. Work Smarter, Not Harder.  Schedule a demo today.