How to improve employee engagement
Improve employee engagement by fixing the conditions people work in, not by adding perks. Measure it continuously at team level, equip managers to act, close the loop on what people tell you, and connect the result to revenue, retention and risk.
The short answer
To improve employee engagement, measure it continuously at team level, find the teams where it is falling, give their managers practical support, fix workload and role clarity, and show people what changed because they spoke up. Then track whether retention, absence and performance move with it.
Why employee engagement matters
Only 21% of employees worldwide were engaged in 2024, down from 23% the year before. Gallup estimates that drop alone cost the world economy $438 billion in lost productivity (Gallup, Global Engagement Falls for the Second Time Since 2009 (2025)).
Managers fell furthest: manager engagement dropped from 30% to 27% in 2024, while individual contributors stayed flat at 18% (Gallup, Global Engagement Falls for the Second Time Since 2009 (2025)). Because managers shape the conditions their teams work in, that decline flows straight through to team engagement.
The upside is measurable. Gallup's meta-analysis found that business units in the top quartile for engagement were 23% more profitable than those in the bottom quartile (Gallup, Q12 Meta-Analysis (2020)).
9 steps to improve employee engagement
1. Measure engagement continuously, at team level
An annual survey tells you how people felt months ago. Replace it, or supplement it, with short regular check-ins so you see the position while you can still act. Report at team level, because engagement varies far more between teams than between companies.
2. Find where engagement is actually low
A company average hides the teams carrying the risk. Look for the teams where engagement, workload and manager support are moving the wrong way at the same time, and start there instead of launching a company-wide program.
3. Start with managers
Managers set the day-to-day conditions that drive engagement, and they are under the most strain. Give them clear, practical guidance they can use in a standup or a one to one, and take work off their plate rather than adding another initiative.
4. Fix workload and role clarity
Sustained overload and unclear expectations are two of the fastest ways to lose people. Make priorities explicit, cut low-value work, and rebalance load in the teams that are stretched.
5. Close the loop on what people tell you
Listening without visible action damages trust. After every check-in cycle, share what you heard, what will change, and what will not. Response rates and honesty both rise when people see follow-through.
6. Make recognition frequent and specific
Recognition works best when it is close to the work and names what someone did. Small, regular acknowledgment from a manager or peer outperforms annual awards.
7. Show people a next step
People who can see how they will grow are less likely to disengage. Make development conversations routine, and be clear about how roles are changing.
8. Keep people engaged through change
Restructures, new systems and AI adoption all strain engagement. Increase how often you listen during change, not less. The section below covers AI change in detail.
9. Connect engagement to business outcomes
Track whether engagement moves alongside retention, absence and performance. When leadership sees engagement in terms of revenue, retention and risk, the work gets resourced instead of cut.
Gallup reports that managers who receive training are about half as likely to be actively disengaged (Gallup, State of the Global Workplace 2025), which is why step 3 matters so much.
Keeping people engaged through AI change
AI adoption is a people question
Buying AI tools does not mean people will use them. Frequent AI use among U.S. employees nearly doubled between 2023 and 2025, from 11% to 19%, but frequent use among production and frontline workers stayed flat at around 9% (Gallup, AI Use at Work Has Nearly Doubled in Two Years (2025)). Whether AI pays off depends on whether people trust it, understand how it fits their work, and believe their role still has a future.
How to listen while roles change
- Check in more often during rollout, with short questions about workload, confidence and clarity.
- Ask directly how AI is changing day-to-day work, and where it is adding work rather than removing it.
- Look at results by team and role, because AI lands very differently in frontline and office roles.
- Share what you heard and what you will change, so people see that their concerns shape the rollout.
- Keep responses confidential, with team views shown only once at least five people have answered.
What managers need
Employees who strongly agree their manager supports AI use are twice as likely to use AI frequently (Gallup, Manager Support Drives Employee AI Adoption (2025)). Managers need three things to play that role: a clear explanation of why the change is happening and what it means for each role, permission and time to experiment with their team, and a regular read on how their team is coping so they can act before engagement drops.
What HR leaders told us is their 2027 priority
We are gathering HR leaders' priorities for 2027 alongside our Workforce Trends research. Results will appear here soon.
Read 7 Workforce Trends That Will Shape 2027How to measure employee engagement
- Set a baseline at team level before you change anything.
- Track leading signals, such as workload, manager support and clarity, every few weeks.
- Track lagging outcomes, such as regrettable attrition and absence, every quarter.
- Score consistently, for example on a 1 to 10 scale, so changes are easy to compare.
- Only report groups of five or more people, so no individual can be identified.
Hope measures this through the Hope Index™, which scores five drivers at team level: health, purpose, security, relationships and environment. See how the Hope Index™ works.
What drives employee engagement
The biggest drivers are the immediate manager, clear expectations, a manageable workload, regular recognition, a visible path to grow, and trust that speaking up leads to action. Perks and social events rarely move engagement on their own because they do not change any of these conditions. For the basics, read what is employee engagement.
Sector guides
- How to improve employee engagement in hospitality (coming soon)
- How to improve employee engagement in retail (coming soon)
See where engagement is at risk in your organization.
Get a free personalized preview of Hope for your organization, or read our research on the trends shaping work in 2027.