It should be a  core strategic priority, and it should be one of the things that matter most to your people.

What is Employee Engagement?

Employee engagement means different things to different people, so let’s start by summarising some key definitions:

• CIPD: A mix of commitment to the organisation, its values, and a willingness to support colleagues—beyond just motivation and job satisfaction.

• William Kahn (1990): How people express themselves physically, cognitively, and emotionally in their jobs—leading to discretionary effort or ‘going the extra mile.’

• Utrecht University: Engaged employees show vigour, dedication, and absorption, rather than burnout.

• Gallup: Those involved in, enthusiastic about, and committed to their work and workplace.

For me, it’s when the interests of the organisation and the employee are as closely aligned as possible. It’s about finding work enjoyable, rewarding, and worthwhile—but crucially, it goes beyond that. When you’re engaged, you sustainably do better work.

Almost no one comes to work intending to do a bad job. Most want to do their best.

Why is Employee Engagement Important?

Intuitively, engaged employees seem like a good thing—but is it necessary?

Yes. Gallup research shows that organisations with highly engaged employees perform better. Engage for Success found that engaged workplaces tend to:

• Be more profitable

• Grow revenue faster

• Have greater customer satisfaction

• Improve productivity

• Innovate more effectively

• Retain employees better

• Operate more efficiently

• Have fewer workplace accidents

In short, engagement drives organisational success because people can do their best work.

Why Isn’t Every Organisation Prioritising Engagement?

If engagement is so beneficial, why aren’t more organisations investing in it? A few key reasons:

• It feels like a slow burn when organisations need quick results.

• It seems expensive or resource-intensive.

• Ownership is unclear. Without a clear driver, initiatives can stall.

• Small organisations assume they already understand their people. They might—but formalised processes add value.

• Past poor experiences. If engagement efforts have failed before, future initiatives may be met with scepticism.

These failures often stem from:

• Endless surveys with no clear action.

• Superficial perks (bean bags, fruit, gym memberships) rather than meaningful change.

• Actions disconnected from organisational priorities.

Without buy-in, engagement efforts won’t succeed. So, what does it take to make engagement work?

How Can You Improve Employee Engagement?

1. Appoint a Champion

Someone needs to own employee engagement. If they aren’t in a leadership role, they’ll need a senior sponsor to provide access and resources.

2. A pilot project

These can be useful to demonstrate impact before rolling out a broader initiative. It may not just be one pilot; it may be a continual succession.

3. Build a Thoughtful Plan

A successful plan is more than just: “We’ll run a survey.” It must begin with deep listening.

The Best Way to Listen

Surveys are a great tool, but they must be used properly. A poorly executed survey feels like data collection rather than a meaningful step toward change. A well-executed survey, however, can:

• Give everyone a voice

• Highlight patterns across different groups

• Uncover specific, actionable insights

What Makes a Great Survey?

Two key factors:

1. Cover the 12 Topics That Matter Most to Engagement (excluding salary):

   • Status & Reputation

   • Integrity & Values

   • Leadership & Vision

   • Management & Support

   • Expectations & Focus

   • Voice & Contribution

   • Accomplishment & Control

   • Recognition & Value

   • Learning & Progress

   • Time & Place

   • People & Teams

   • Environment & Process

2. Prioritise Emotion-Driven Questions

Instead of just asking, “Have you had a performance conversation with your manager?”, ask, “Did it feel like your manager took it seriously?”

Emotion-based questions make employees reflect on their experiences, which leads to more meaningful insights in open-ended responses.

If you get this right, your survey will provide a rich understanding of how your people really feel.

Go Beyond the Survey

Even a well-designed survey won’t tell you everything. To get a full picture, you need deeper listening.

Two Approaches to Follow-Up Conversations:

1. Exploratory – When you need a broad understanding of workplace dynamics. Questions like: “How does it feel to work here?” “What works well? What doesn’t?”

2. Consultative – When you have themes to explore and potential actions to test. Questions like: “What should we prioritise?” “Why should leadership care about this?”

Many organisations fall into the trap of “You said, we did.”

Instead, the process should be: listen, listen more, agree the issues, agree the next steps.

It’s far more involved; it’s far more likely to gain traction; it’s far more likely to work; it’s far more likely to make a difference that leadership care about.

Turning Your Plan Into Reality

By now, you’ll have a strong understanding of what’s important and why. Implementation, however, requires collaboration.

A Typical Example – Employee Retention

An obvious example might be retention. If people don’t get the conditions that are on offer elsewhere, then they’re more likely to leave. Often that needs a monetary fix – and that becomes a bigger decision.

But sometimes it’s about something simpler, and more adjustable, like shift patterns. A small change – with no change in numbers of hors worked, or times covered – could make a big difference. And that could mean you need to recruit less often, that you keep more of your best people – because you meet their needs, and show they’re important.

A Practical Example – Communication & Productivity

If poor communication is causing frustration, engagement will suffer. But to get leadership buy-in, you need to connect communication improvements to an organisational priority—like productivity.

Potential solutions, that can boost productivity –  could include:

• Improved team understanding and collaboration

• New communication formats

• Better documentation of processes

Ideally, you’ve already explored that in your deeper listening, and can make a link between the cause and the effect.

Even a small pilot project can demonstrate impact and build momentum.

How Do You Know If It’s Working?

Measuring engagement success goes beyond repeating the survey. You need to tie engagement initiatives to real organisational priorities.

For example, if your focus is productivity:

• Are teams communicating more effectively?

• Are delays being reduced?

• Are fewer errors made or reworks needed?

• Is overtime less frequently required?

By tracking these indicators, you not only measure progress but also reinforce the commitment to ongoing improvement.

The Bottom Line

Employee engagement isn’t just about making work enjoyable—it’s about creating conditions for people to do their best work. And when that happens, organisations thrive.