The 3 Key Elements of Employee Engagement
You can kid yourself about a lot of the things in your business, but it all comes down to having great people and taking great care of them
The Irrefutable Business Case for Engagement
The evidence is overwhelming: highly engaged employees are the single most significant driver of customer satisfaction and loyalty, which, in turn, is the number one driver of organizational profitability. Studies show that engaged companies grow profits up to three times faster than their competitors. Furthermore, highly engaged employees are 87% less likely to leave an organization, directly solving high turnover costs. Given that over 70% of the workforce is disengaged, the cost of low engagement severely impacts an organization’s bottom line, making the ROI of a highly engaged workforce an impressive strategic advantage.
Key Element # 1: Culture Eats Strategy for Breakfast
A strong, positive corporate culture is the most important factor that either helps or hinders a company’s success and its ability to maintain high engagement. Culture represents the written and unwritten rules, values, and priorities of an organization, and while it can be guided, it can never be mandated. The best culture is immediately evident in happy people, positive energy, and a strong sense of camaraderie. For top talent to stay engaged, leaders must demonstrate care, model core values, and foster an environment that is the direct opposite of politicking and rumormongering.
Key Element # 2: Purpose Drives Passion and Performance
Working with a sense of purpose is a powerful driver of employee engagement, significantly increasing motivation, morale, and productivity. Employees are often willing to trade fancy titles or income to feel like they are contributing to the greater good. The best way to achieve this is to show employees precisely how their work makes a difference in the lives of others, for instance, by bringing them into direct contact with the people their products or services help. For companies with more mundane work, involvement in meaningful causes (like charity work) can boost engagement, connecting the organization to a positive world impact.
Key Element # 3: Growth and Development Opportunities
Stagnation kills motivation. Leaders must always be providing opportunities for their people to build on their knowledge and skills, as professional development is a must-have for a high-performance team with an innovation mindset. Research shows that employees who spend time learning on the job are 47% less likely to be stressed and 39% more likely to feel productive and successful. This investment is crucial for attracting and retaining top talent, as they expect their companies to provide training, mentorship, and a clear career path, seeing development as a necessary part of the organizational commitment to them.
The Critical Role of Trusted Leadership
While pay, work quality, culture, and growth are all vital, the single most critical factor keeping exceptionally talented people engaged is working for a leader they trust, respect, and admire. Roughly 80% of people who quit their job do not quit the work—they quit their immediate boss. This means every leader lives under a microscope, and their competence, honesty, and authenticity are constantly being judged. To retain talented people, leaders must be a living example of the culture they want, setting the tone for the entire company through their actions and accountability.