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Leveraging culture to increase employee engagement

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Combatting the disengagement epidemic

What lies beneath the alarming employee disengagement statistics? And what can an individual business do to beat the odds and help employees feel more excited and engaged with their work? The answer lies in you business culture...

Now, I don’t mean to alarm you, but the state of the American workforce is not so good. According to Gallup, the keeper of all engagement-related data, only 30% of employees in the American workforce are currently engaged – down from 33% in 2023. (For context, “ engaged employees” are those who willingly invest their discretionary energy into their work – they approach their work with enthusiasm, are intrigued by the business challenges they face, and look forward to the lessons they will learn along the way. Their positive energy is contagious!) Unfortunately, this downward trend in nationwide employee engagement persists, with a increasing number of employees crossing over from engaged to disengaged with each passing quarter. But hold on – these statistics are at the national level. How do you think your own workforce stacks up? According to the Forbes Human Resource Council, symptoms you can look for to identify whether employees are disengaged include withdrawal, poor communication, breaks from routine, silence, apathy where once there was excitement, absenteeism, complacency, a decline in work quality, missed deadlines, exhaustion, cynicism, inefficiency, lack of participation, naysaying and even rudeness – and ultimately, if unaddressed, regrettable turnover. If the notion that two-thirds of our American workforce is disengaged isn’t alarming enough, consider this: Gallup also reports that 17% of employees fall into the actively disengaged category (otherwise known as ‘quiet quitting’). These individuals expend their discretionary energy searching for new job opportunities while simultaneously spreading negativity among their peers. It’s no wonder that disengagement is often seen as contagious and toxic for company culture. Moreover, employees who attribute their disengagement to burnout and chronic overwork are twice as likely to encourage their colleagues to resign. Shockingly, a recent study by the American Psychological Association reveals that up to 50% of managers — yes, managers! — experience burnout. What lies beneath these depressing statistics? When dealing with disengagement, I find individual employees are rarely to blame. In my work, I have found the strongest contributors to disengagement include: Lack of Inclusion, Trust, and Transparent Communications : When employees feel excluded or unheard, their engagement suffers. Transparent communication fosters trust and a sense of belonging. Insufficient Development and Advancement Opportunities : Without clear paths for growth, employees become disenchanted. Organizations must invest in their employees’ professional development. Lack of Recognition and Support : Recognition fuels motivation. Employees who feel undervalued are more likely to disengage. Overwork and Burnout : The relentless pursuit of productivity can lead to burnout. Striking a balance is crucial. Lack of Autonomy and Empowerment : Micromanagement stifles engagement. Empowering employees to make decisions enhances their commitment. Poor or Uninspiring Organizational Culture : Culture shapes behavior. A positive, purpose-driven culture encourages engagement. Not surprisingly, most of the drivers of disengagement can be traced back to organizational culture. This realization prompted the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) to declare that a company’s culture is not only an asset but also a top governance imperative. Regardless of company size or sector, business leaders should actively monitor and measure culture using objective metrics such as unwanted attrition, employee net promoter scores, referrals, hotline reports, productivity, inclusion, diversity, engagement scores, and the strength of the employment brand. What can you do? I see these three factors as a starting point to beat the statistics above: Don’t assume you know what your people are thinking. Trying to remedy a situation without fully understanding what is going on is likely to result in wasted efforts. Different people in different roles are certainly going to be having different experiences – experiences that are different from your own. Which leads us to the next suggestion… Listen to your people. Let your team members tell you how they are feeling about their work environment and their jobs. I often conduct focus groups, spot surveys and broader employee engagement surveys with my clients' teams to get a sense of their engagement and understand what some of the key issues are. We use survey data to broadly understand how people are feeling – and follow up with focus groups in specific areas to get a more nuanced feeling for what changes would improve engagement and morale. NOTE: If trust is an issue, sometimes an impartial moderator can get people to open up about how they are feeling. Communicate. Communicate. Communicate. No matter how high or low your team’s engagement is, improving communications is always a good idea. Communication improves people’s sense of inclusion, helping them to better understand the business and where it is going, allowing them to align their work with the business strategy and see how their efforts are directly tied to business results. This in turn helps them have a greater sense of belonging and trust – two feelings that are directly tied to employee engagement. 

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