Employee engagement is critical to your organization. Engaged employees are more productive, more effective, and better positioned to support your customers and lead your company to the next level. Unfortunately, a decline in employee engagement has created challenges for many companies. Savvy organizations are responding quickly to protect the company and support their employees.

Employee Engagement Is Falling Worldwide

Globally, only around 20% of employees are actively engaged at work—and that figure is declining. Employees are struggling in the workplace. Not only have anxiety and depression increased, with a particular challenge showing in the statistics for young adults, but many employees are also struggling with a lack of clarity, inadequate support from their employers, and poor communication.

Why Employee Engagement Matters

Employee engagement isn’t just about saying that you have happy employees who are glad to work for your company. When employees are engaged at work, they are better positioned to help the organization thrive. In fact, they are a key part of helping companies survive difficult economic periods and even grow throughout them. Furthermore, engaged employees are more productive. They can take on more tasks, advance the company, and provide a higher level of support to the customers they interact with each day.

Engagement at work also leads to higher levels of creativity and innovation. Engaged employees can develop unique solutions to the challenges their employers face, offer insights into new products or services, and help grow the brand.

Additionally, engaged employees are more likely to stay with an employer over the long term, which can significantly reduce hiring costs for many companies.

What’s Causing the Decline?

The decline in employee engagement does not stem from a single factor. Rather, various challenges facing workers and companies are steadily reducing employees’ ability to stay motivated and focused on the job.

Manager Burnout and Leadership Challenges

Manager burnout is also a very serious problem in many organizations. Statistically, more than 50% of managers report feeling burned out due to various factors. This includes growing job responsibilities, a lack of support from their employers, and the many challenges they encounter each day. Burned-out managers don’t just reduce their own productivity; they can also lower staff engagement and significantly increase turnover rates.

Economic Uncertainty and Workplace Stress

Increasing economic uncertainty has also affected employee engagement, especially if employees aren’t sure what the future holds for their jobs. Workplace stress has increased for many employees, whether they’re worried about job security or facing increased workload because the company no longer has as many employees to handle it all.

Communication Gaps in Remote and Hybrid Teams

Remote work has increased substantially across many industries. While it offers advantages for both employers and employees, remote work also creates potential communication gaps that can create challenges, including:

• Poor communication of expectations
• Lower collaboration between team members, especially when working across time zones
• Difficulty communicating and maintaining company culture
• Lack of connection between employees

Creating a clear communication plan can go a long way toward reducing those challenges and making it easier for employees to keep up with their responsibilities.

Limited Career Growth Opportunities

Employees want the opportunity to grow: to develop new skills, to provide more benefit to their employers, and to reach for new positions. However, many employers fail to offer those vital growth opportunities. They may also lack training opportunities or fail to promote from within, both of which can lead employees to seek growth opportunities elsewhere.

Five Practical Ways to Improve Employee Engagement

Employee engagement is an ongoing need for your brand. With the right tools, you can maintain high engagement and experience those essential benefits.

1. Invest in Manager Development

Effective managers are a cornerstone of employee engagement. When you invest in manager development, you provide them with the tools to manage teams more effectively and decrease the risk of burnout. You can also develop a deeper understanding of your team members’ skills and where they are most likely to shine.

2. Communicate More Transparently

Transparent communication can also go a long way toward increasing employee security and, in turn, engagement. That means:

• Clearly laying out expectations so that employees know what they need to accomplish, when it’s due, and what they need to take on
• Making sure employees understand the company’s mission, purpose, and values
• Letting employees know what’s going on with the company, including potential upcoming changes that could impact them and their jobs

That clear communication helps employees stay focused on their jobs and tasks, reducing worry and stress while increasing confidence.

3. Create Clear Growth Opportunities

Let employees know how they can advance through your company and what options are available to them. Consider:

• Offering consistent training opportunities
• Allowing employees to work on larger or more important projects as their skills increase
• Promoting from within where possible
• Offering a clear path to promotion, including the criteria employees need to meet to move forward

When employees know they can grow with your company, they’re more likely to stay committed and engaged at work, resulting in higher overall productivity.

4. Recognize Contributions Regularly

Let employees know that you see what they’re doing well, and reward them for it where possible. Make sure that no one’s contributions are lost in the pursuit of “bigger goals.” Praise accomplishments and contributions along the way. In many cases, that simple step can significantly increase employee morale and engagement.

5. Gather and Act on Employee Feedback

It can be difficult for top members of the management team to see exactly what’s happening at the employee level and what those employees need. Regularly gather employee feedback, inviting them to share what’s working for them, what isn’t, and what changes could provide significant benefits, and then act on it. However, collecting feedback alone isn’t enough. To improve engagement, your team also needs to act on the information it collects, showing employees that their contributions and information are appreciated.

How Successful Organizations Are Responding

An engaged workforce is critical to your organization’s success, and businesses that want to lead their industries aren’t sitting around waiting for employee engagement to improve. Instead, they’re taking a proactive approach to improving the workplace environment. This includes improving communication, sharing information freely with employees, recognizing their employees, providing the support they need, and helping them excel. If you’re looking for more tools to help your organization succeed, including a full-service employer of record to support the growth of your global workforce, reach out. BrightR is here to help you reach those goals.