How to Increase Employee Engagement

Between selecting the best benefits, offering competitive compensation, reviewing PTO policies and more, keeping employees engaged at work can sometimes feel like a necessary, yet very difficult task. However, with the right strategies in place, it doesn’t have to be!

What Is Employee Engagement?

Let’s start with a simple definition. Employee engagement is the level of enthusiasm and commitment an employee has for work, an organization, and its goals. Employee enthusiasm is often infectious which means when an employee is happy at work and engaged, they are more likely to talk positively about the company, stay longer with the organization, and encourage others to do the same. It makes a positive impact on the overall employee experience. As an employer, promoting employee engagement doesn’t happen by accident. It happens through intentionally creating an environment where employees can grow and thrive.

Employee engagement is critical to business success. Gallup employee engagement research shows engaged employees have higher wellbeing, better retention, lower absenteeism, and higher productivity. Comparing top quartile and bottom quartile engagement rates, the data finds:

• 23% difference in profitability
• 18% difference in productivity (sales)
• 14% difference in productivity (production records and evaluations)
• 21% difference in turnover at high turnover organizations; 51% difference for low turnover organizations

But between selecting the best benefits, offering competitive salaries, reviewing PTO policies, and more, keeping employees engaged at work can feel challenging or fall to the backburner. However, with the right strategies in place, it doesn’t have to.

What Is Employee Engagement?

Let’s start with a simple definition. Employee engagement is the level of enthusiasm and commitment an employee has for work, an organization, and its goals.

When an employee is happy at work and engaged, they are more likely to talk positively about the company, stay longer with the organization, and encourage others to do the same. It makes a positive impact on the overall employee experience.

As an employer, promoting employee engagement doesn’t happen by chance. Achieving employee engagement requires intentionally creating an environment where employees can grow and thrive. And through doing that, you support employee retention.

The Benefits of an Engaged Workforce

Time and time again research has proven that happy and engaged employees are more profitable and stay longer. And, because the average cost of employee turnover is approximately 33% of an employee’s base pay, making sure your employees are fully invested definitely protects your bottom line.

Again, when employees are engaged, they become advocates for your company. Specific benefits of an engaged workforce include:

• Increased productivity
• Improved morale
• Higher job satisfaction
• Reduced turnover
• Better collaboration among team members

Tips to Increase Employee Engagement

Wondering how to improve employee engagement and retention? Employee engagement ideas can only take you so far. You also have to know your employees to create the combination that works best for your team. Start by conducting employee engagement surveys to help identify what matters to your specific set of employees. Paycor makes this easy with Pulse Surveys.

Once you know what matters to your workforce, you can create an approach, which may include these five employee engagement and retention strategies.

1. Communicate How Performance Aligns with the Business

When there is a clear connection between an associate’s work and business strategy, a line of sight is created that gives them a reason to come to work and put in their best effort. In fact, in a Harvard Business Review study of 5,600 employees, 92.4% reported they do better work when they see how the quality of their work matters to the big picture. Despite that, only about half of workers between the ages of 25 to 45 felt like they could connect their day-to-day tasks to strategic initiatives.

By being open and acknowledging the dedication of your employees, you make their work more fulfilling. Paycor’s Talent Development software empowers business leaders to create a culture of continuous development. With customizable, preloaded templates, leaders can build coaching sessions to motivate employees, and the Paycor Recognition tool allows them to celebrate success together.

2. Offer Work Challenges and a Chance for Input

Neither managers nor their employees can do their best work on their own. When your managers are willing to collaborate with associates and delegate some tasks, everyone is able to do their job effectively and hear a variety of points of view. If employees feel trusted and that their work is important, they will naturally feel more inclined to do it well.

Paycor Pulse Surveys include engagement survey templates that allow companies to collect employee feedback, gauge satisfaction, and assess topics that are top of mind. This provides an opportunity to gain valuable input and learn what projects are of most interest to your teams.

3. Personalize Career Development

The workforce, especially with the addition of the millennials, is becoming more focused on how on-the-job experiences can improve an employee’s skill set and their company’s future. Some great ways to foster personal development within the workplace include:

• Creating affinity groups and employee resource groups
• Asking employees to self-assess strengths and weaknesses
• Using subject matter experts within your company as teachers

With Paycor Career Development software, managers can define role responsibilities for their staff and set expectations to get an employee’s career path to the next level.

4. Develop Great Managers

Developing great leaders is especially important, because the three previous tips all depend on having managers who are invested in their associates. According to Paycor’s recent HR in 2025 survey of 7,000+ HR, finance, and IT pros, 83% of companies that reported excellent financial performance over the previous 12 months agreed or strongly agreed that their leaders were highly effective. 85% of companies with poor financial performance say their leaders are ineffective.

By keeping managers informed and engaged, their job of encouraging employee engagement becomes much easier. Get help developing your leaders with the COR Leadership Framework and Paycor Paths.

5. Re-Recruit Employees

These days, recruiting new talent is a major focus, but there needs to be an emphasis on engaging existing employees as well. Periodically check in with your employees to assess their “flight risk” and make sure their concerns are being addressed. This assure them that they are being heard and appreciated.

Only 23% of 120,000+ employees surveyed for Gallup’s recent State of the Global Workplace report being engaged at work. 62% say they’re not engaged, and 15% note they’re actively disengaged.

The fact is, your dissatisfied employees can and will take their talent somewhere else. Be proactive and use an employee engagement survey (here’s a template) to assess the potential needs of the workforce.

Frequently Asked Questions

Still have questions regarding employee engagement? Read on.

What Role Does Recognition Play in Boosting Employee Engagement?

Recognition plays a vital role in employee engagement. When leaders acknowledge and show appreciation for an employee’s efforts, the employee better understands their contributions and feel valued. This positive reinforcement also leads to increased motivation and a stronger commitment to the organization.

How Can Organizations Promote Work-Life Balance to Enhance Employee Engagement?

By offering flexible work arrangements, when practical, employees can easily balance personal or familial responsibilities and work responsibilities. Relieving the stress of an employee can free up bandwidth to help them become more focused when it is time to work. Additionally, enhancing wellness programs and encouraging time off helps employees feel valued on and off the clock.

How Can Employee Surveys Help in Identifying Areas for Improvement in Employee Engagement?

Anonymous employee engagement surveys are a valuable tool in collecting honest feedback and insights directly from employees. With the right set of questions, employees will share their opinions and concerns about job satisfaction, communication, leadership, work-life balance, benefits, and more.

Additionally, the quantitative data will provide leadership with a specific course of action (including priorities and focus areas) for how to better promote employee engagement in the future. Further, this information can help teams set benchmarks for measurement.

What Are the Key Factors that Contribute to Employee Engagement and Retention?

Key factors that contribute to employee engagement and retention include clear communication of how individual performance aligns with company goals, opportunities for career development, effective leadership, recognition for achievements, and providing meaningful work challenges.

How Do You Measure Engagement and Retention?

Engagement and retention are measured through employee surveys, feedback tools, and performance reviews. Key metrics include employee satisfaction scores, turnover rates, absenteeism, and productivity levels. Pulse surveys, like those offered by Paycor, can provide real-time insights into employee sentiment, while retention is tracked by monitoring the average tenure and exit interview data.

How Paycor Helps

Employee engagement is critical to business success. Paycor provides the tools and resources needed to create an environment where employees feel valued, supported, and motivated. Whether it’s through talent development toolsto help align individual goals with company objectives, pulse surveys to gather real-time feedback, or career development software to map out clear next steps, Paycor ensures employee engagement remains a top priority.

Level up your employee engagement. Request a guided product tour today.