5 Employee Engagement Strategies for Fixing the World's $8.8 Trillion Problem
Work & Teams
According to Gallup's State of the Global Workplace report, workers who are not engaged or are actively disengaged cost$8.8 trillion globally in lost productivity. This number is projected to drop even further, as employee engagement in 2024 fell to a ten-year low (with only 31% of employees engaged).
It’s clear that the most successful companies of the twenty-first century will be those who understand and implement meaningful worker engagement strategies. However, it’s not always easy to sort the wheat from the chaff, and finding techniques that truly work can be challenging at best.
This article outlines five effective employee engagement strategies for growing businesses, including guidance on getting started, regardless of your industry. It also explains the foundation of all five methods: using Baryons Flourishing Partners to drive business growth, retention, and engagement.
The Benefits of Implementing Employee Engagement Strategies
With millions of workers disengaging from the workplace each year, it’s becoming increasingly critical to implement effective employee engagement strategies. After all, the benefits speak for themselves.
Higher Business Performance
Gallup surveys have consistently proved the high rate of return on worker engagement. A 2023 study found that highly engaged employees are associated with fewer safety incidents, lower absenteeism, and reduced turnover and shrinkage. They also lead to higher quality, customer loyalty/engagement, productivity (sales), and profitability.
The larger your ratio of engaged workers, the more significant and noticeable your business performance gains will be.
Higher Earnings per Share
Engaged employees can increase your likelihood of higher business performance, but they can also make businesses more profitable in public trading spaces.
Studies show that businesses with a large number of engaged workers typically outperform their competition financially via earnings per share (EPS). Above-average engagement is also a strong differentiator for EPS, which can lead to steady profits for fast-growing brands.
Higher Resilience During Times of Disruption
Times of disruption, such as recessions and pandemics, often require a high level of flexibility and adaptability from employees. Interestingly, widespread engagement can serve as a stopgap. Studies show that higher levels of engagement can lead to greater innovation and increased survivability in businesses operating during times of stress.
Companies with more engaged workers may also be able to pivot faster, enabling them to take advantage of new opportunities. This can ultimately lead to surpassing the competition and remaining a relevant figure even in times of economic, political, or societal stress.
Top Five Employee Engagement Strategies for Growing Businesses
Worker engagement is a powerful force for any brand. The trick is learning how to cultivate it well and then fostering a culture where engagement becomes automatic and habitual.
You can utilize these five employee engagement strategies to develop stronger teams, enhance innovation, and accelerate company growth.
1. Onboarding New Hires With Intention
Studies show that high-quality onboarding can improve worker retention by up to 82%. A great onboarding process might include:
Promoting and upholding company values
Buddy systems for acclimatizing to the office
Getting connected with a personalized AI mentor mapped to specific personal and professional goals
2. Taking a Stand With Employee Recognition
Approximately nine in ten workers (90%) say that getting recognized for their work typically motivates them to put in more effort. This means that highlighting the achievements and “wins” of your employees can help them feel more valued (and therefore more engaged) with your company.
Traditional worker recognition tools may include simple tasks like selecting an employee of the month or quarter. However, many other solutions could be effective for your business. You can use worker engagement apps, such as Bonusly or Motivosity, or set up a team Slack channel specifically for wins, shoutouts, and celebrations.
3. Creating Meaningful Team-Building Activities
A major catalyst for employee engagement begins with friendship and camaraderie. This includes encouraging teams to build stronger relationships through events like team-building activities. According to recent statistics, these may lead to a 50% higher job satisfaction rate among workers.
Schedule team-building exercises through third-party companies, such as group event planners or adventure game providers. Alternatively, look in-house. This might include a 5-p.m. happy hour, surprise birthday parties, or paid time off for group volunteering.
4. Conducting Employee Pulse Surveys
Receiving and honoring feedback can help team members feel seen and heard. Since roughly 77% of workers want to give feedback more than once a year, it may be advantageous to schedule quarterly or biannual pulse surveys. These enable you to focus on statistics like your employee net promoter score, or eNPS. For benchmarking purposes, you should focus on a score between 30 and 50, as that’s one of the most common scores among high-performance companies.
5. Adding Personalization Elements
Personalized worker engagement strategies are more effective than generic systems; there should be no such thing as a one-size-fits-all engagement program. Remaining agile and flexible can greatly benefit your company in the future.
Examples of adding personalization elements include:
Payroll giving to a charity of their choice
Virtual volunteering or PTO for physical volunteering
Connecting with a Flourishing Partner to work toward specific goals
Implementing Flourishing Partners to Enhance Employee Engagement Strategies
Flourishing Partners help organizations nurture growth, reflection, and resilience at scale. They provide ongoing support that combines neuroscience, behavioral insight, and reflective guidance, making engagement a daily, measurable practice.
The numbers behind mentorship and reflection-based programs speaks for itself:
Employees with mentors are 49% less likely to leave their company.
Only 1 in 5 employees with mentors consider quitting, compared to 2 in 5 without.
Companies with mentoring programs see an average 18% increase in profits, while those without often experience declines.
Implementing a Flourishing Partner program is simple:
Onboard your team. Introduce the concept of daily reflection and flourishing practices.
Engage with your Flourishing Partner. Encourage individuals and teams to set goals and explore growth opportunities.
Collect insights. Measure engagement and well-being through anonymized data.
Design what’s next. Use insights to align growth, feedback, and business goals.
Flourishing Partners help transform mentorship into a living, breathing practice, accessible to everyone, every day.
Baryons support growth, leadership, and well-being among thousands of leaders who are ready to level up in their fields. It’s a cost-effective strategy that dramatically enhances worker engagement and makes meaningful improvement more accessible to all staff members.
The $8.8 trillion productivity gap isn’t an abstract number, it’s a reflection of human disconnection.
When employees disengage, organizations lose not just profit, but potential.
Flourishing Partners offer a new path forward; one built on reflection, purpose, and partnership.
When people feel supported and seen, engagement becomes a habit, and performance follows naturally.
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