In 2022, a report by Gallup found that UK employee engagement levels are among the worst in Europe, with fewer than one in 10 members of staff feeling enthusiastic about their job. Shockingly, just nine percent of UK workers surveyed felt enthused by their work and workplace, well below the European average of 14 percent. As a result, terms like ‘quiet quitting’ and ‘bare-minimum Monday’ are becoming more commonplace – you may have even heard them used, or executed, in your workplace?

What if there was a way UK employers could increase employee engagement and transform the way staff regard their jobs? The incentive for businesses to achieve this goal is clear cut; engaged employees are more loyal, productive and innovative, and subsequently can bring a boost to company profits. Employees benefit from being more engaged too; they have more ownership and autonomy over their work, and, as a result, are more likely to be trusted, confident and resilient.

So how can engagement be improved? I believe training is the top, most effective tool. For most businesses, training is often left out of employee engagement strategies – it is a significant investment and there is no guarantee that employees will stay with the company after receiving training. In the eyes of many CEOs, HR directors and other business leaders, employee engagement means hosting a pizza party once a month, and while there is nothing wrong with that, it certainly does not fix the complex issue of staff engagement at its root cause in the same way that training does.

I do understand to a certain degree the anxiety employers face when it comes to offering training, and the chicken-and-egg scenario they are presented with. On the one hand, good professional training is often not cheap and no assurance of how long the employee will remain at the company, leaving little or no return on investment. But, on the other hand, investment in employees has been proven to retain staff, as well as keep them happy, motivated and feeling challenged. Even if employees make the decision to leave the company after training takes place, contributing to an individual’s on-going development is invaluable, whether they stay with the company or not.

One thing not to be underestimated when using training as a tool to enhance employee engagement is the ‘type’. Reactive training or ‘firefighting training’ is not always helpful and often doesn’t address the real problem or organisational need. Proactive training is almost always preferable; it ensures that employees are prepared for future challenges, leading to greater organisational agility, flexibility, and ultimately, employee engagement.

This type of training also has the most impact if it is delivered by an external training provider. In-house training is still a vital piece of the puzzle, but it can be viewed by staff as a tick-box exercise and often comes with an agenda. With external providers, problem-solving is tackled from a new, bigger-picture perspective and can challenge people further. External training also provides employees with the opportunity to travel to a different environment to meet and network with new people which also helps staff feel more motivated, connected and engaged.

While training is not the silver bullet to ending the impending employee engagement crisis in the UK, it should certainly be used as a tool to tackle the problem – and needs to be a part of every business’s armoury. Moving forward, if businesses don’t prioritise this, in a proactive way with external training providers at the helm, we could see a significant decline in an already extremely worrying national picture.