Employee engagement is at an all-time high - and here’s why

By Richard Tyson 

There is good news in the world of employee engagement. Recently, I opened my email to see a headline from the Gallup organization proclaiming that “Employee Engagement is at an All-Time High.”

In 2019, Gallup found that the percentage of highly involved, enthusiastic and committed workers reached 35 percent. Now, you may immediately recognize that this leaves 65 percent who are not similarly engaged. So, why are many of us celebrating?

Well, in the year 2000, only 26 percent of employees surveyed were highly engaged, while 18 percent were actively disengaged. The year prior, only 13 percent were in this disengaged category. The 9 percent increase in engagement, coupled with the 5 percent decrease in active disengagement represents an addition of approximately 12 million new highly engaged workers and 7 million fewer who are actively disengaged over the past two decades.

The economic impact of this trend is enormous. In their 2006 book, 12: The Elements of Great Managing, Rodd Wagner and James K. Harter noted that conservatively, lost productivity due to disengagement is over $300 billion per year in the U.S. A 9 percent improvement, then, is somewhere around $30 billion each year. Indeed, there is much to celebrate.

That said, there is still room for much improvement. A full 52 percent of workers, while not actively disengaged, are what Gallup calls “psychologically unattached to their work, who put time, but not energy or passion, into their work.” And, of course, there is that other 13 percent who simply bring nothing to their jobs but discontent and distraction.

So, two questions loom heavily here: 1. What has changed over the past two decades to bring about the improvement in employee engagement? and 2. What can be done to continue and expand that positive trend?

The answers to these questions reside within the companies that have implemented specific changes over the past 20 years. These changes tend to fall into four categories:

1. An intensified focus on the vision of the CEO, founder or business owner. Gallup notes that these companies have a well-defined purpose and brand. Their WHY is clear, as is their mission and the values that govern their behaviors, practices and policies. This clarity is often not perceived by the casual observer, but it is abundantly understood by fully engaged employees.

Author Kindra Hall, in her book Stories that Stick, shares the story of one of her clients, a trucking company whose apparent purpose was “to move things from here to there.” Their people, however, understood their work as “helping customers keep their promises.” Kindra defines this as a “noble purpose.” Their employees understand how their engagement is essential to the achievement of that purpose. Engagement is highly relevant to their everyday work, rather than an abstract concept.

2. Managers become coaches rather than bosses. They have moved away from “command and control” management to encouraging their teams to solve problems on their own. Our colleague, S. Brett Savage, defines these managers as “Phase 3 Leaders,” those who have moved beyond “having all the answers” to become facilitators of collaborative ideas and solutions.

3. Much less secrecy regarding the strategic thinking at the top — and much more general communication and collaboration. Best practices are regularly disseminated and discussed. Employee questions and suggestions are entertained. CEOs and managers make room in their busy schedules to regularly meet and pay attention to their people. They strive to ask good questions — and then to listen. This is ideally a combination of both informal and institutionalized, calendared meetings.The general rules are “nothing is out-of-bounds,” and “if we don’t have an answer, we’ll find out.” Such ambiguity and vulnerability can be a bit unsettling, but it generally has a highly positive effect on employees. When they know no topic is off-limits, trust, support and engagement almost always increase.

4. Higher expectations for accountability, along with recognition of those who are highly engaged at all levels of the organization. Employees who clearly fulfill their roles in bringing about the achievement of the company vision are recognized and rewarded. On the other hand, mediocrity is not tolerated. Each employee is expected to make strong individual contributions, and their managers are expected to sustain, support and facilitate those contributions.

These four strategies have been instrumental in bringing about substantial improvement in meeting the challenges of employee engagement for business leaders who have been willing to become more deeply purpose-driven; to let go of “command and control” management; to communicate more broadly and deeply; and to expect, recognize and reward those team members who are highly engaged.

Richard Tyson is the founder, principal owner and president of CEObuilder, which provides forums for consulting and coaching to executives in small businesses.