Defying Trends: How to Keep Employee Engagement Numbers Soaring

Despite a 2019 Gallup study revealing that employee engagement in the U.S. had risen considerably, topping a record high of 35 percent, with active disengagement rates having dropped to 13 percent, the issue of employee engagement was not resolved. Far from it, the pandemic shifted organizations into experiencing a continual drop in employee engagement figures with a review of the first quarter of 2024 finding an 11-year low.

While the temporary rise in engagement was promising, the fact remained that even then, over half the workforce was still unengaged, and we now know that waiting out the “pandemic low” won’t work. This highlights the need for organizations to continue to focus on engagement, both during highs and lows and to tap into the potential of this unengaged group.

There are four main factors that, “create a high-development culture,” which subsequently bolsters employee engagement:

1. Prioritizing Organizational Purpose. Business leaders must convey a sense of purpose to their employees and inspire a sense of connection to that mission. This must be emphasized at every level to reach employees, with senior leadership setting and communicating a clear vision, middle managers translating it to department and team goals while motivating and engaging their teams to pursue them, and individual contributors receiving the guidance and support necessary to link their daily tasks and personal purpose to that of the larger organization.
2. Choosing a Coach Mindset Over a Boss Mindset. In order to identify and develop employees’ strengths, business leaders must focus on changing their management model from one of unquestioned authority to a coaching model. This requires breaking down established beliefs about what leadership is and rewriting it for both new and long-term leaders. Examples of this include teaching leaders how to collaboratively set direct reports’ goals, provide useful feedback, and utilize task delegation as learning opportunities.
3. Encouraging Open Communication. Open lines of communication between the levels of an organization is key to creating a high-development culture. Communication allows “managers to share best practices around creating highly engaged teams,” improving engagement and organizational performance. Gallup also found that the individuals who were most likely to have dropped in terms of engagement were the ones who likely felt the most disconnected from their organization such as employees who worked exclusively from home or those who could work remotely but chose to work exclusively from the office, emphasizing the need to enhance communication and comradery amongst employees.
4. Focusing on Accountability. Business leaders must invest more energy in hiring exceptional managers and holding managers and team leaders accountable for maintaining high levels of employee engagement. This can be difficult to do without tools to assist leaders monitor their own progress and team well-being though. Thus organizations should not only be investing in yearly checks of employee engagement through company-wide surveys such as Monark’s Organizational Health and Effectiveness Profile but also in software, like Monark’s Leader Relationship Management (LRM) and integrated 1:1 tool,  that can provide leaders with real-time updates on which employees are doing well, and which are struggling, so that they can quickly provide essential support to their direct reports.

To learn more about recent trends in organizational health and well-being, keep an eye out for our upcoming Organizational Health Report this Winter, where we’ll share key processes and strategies organizations are implementing to stand out from the crowd.