Explore proven employee engagement strategies to boost productivity, morale, and retention. Create a thriving workplace with these actionable insights.
Just 31% of U.S. employees report feeling engaged at work, according to a Gallup survey. That means most workers, even at your own company, are likely disconnected, unmotivated, and less-than-productive. When you need to go full speed ahead to eclipse the competition, you need a fully engaged staff — but what exactly is employee engagement, and what are employee engagement strategies?
Employee engagement strategies help your company boost morale, drive productivity, and increase retention. In other words, they transform disengaged workers into energized, unstoppable employees.
In this article, we walk through 17 of the best employee engagement strategies, how they help, and how to determine which to implement on your team.
The 17 best employee engagement strategies
- Prioritize growth and development
- Encourage work-life balance
- Foster transparency
- Recognize and reward employees
- Perfect your onboarding process
- Promote autonomy
- Give constructive feedback regularly
- Collect and act on employee feedback
- Offer meaningful employee incentives
- Ensure competitive compensation and benefits
- Emphasize corporate social responsibility
- Embed core values into daily work
- Cultivate a positive workplace culture
- Develop strong leadership and management
- Support remote and hybrid employees
- Reinforce employee retention strategies
- Leverage technology to boost engagement
1. Prioritize growth and development
In a recent survey by LinkedIn, 84% of surveyed workers stated that learning adds purpose to their work. Fostering that sense of greater purpose leads to higher engagement, and there are several ways to do it successfully.
Consider the various ways employees may hope to develop. Some want to climb the ladder, while others simply hope to perfect their current role. Some may even seek paths to new positions. Give a clear path to progression for every role so workers understand what growth looks like.
Then, provide mentorship programs, opportunities to upskill, and education benefits employees can use to seek additional education or certifications. To further enhance your workforce development initiatives, run expert-led HR workshops to drive employee growth and satisfaction.
2. Encourage work-life balance
Employees with a fair balance between life and work are more productive and less likely to experience serious burnout. Cultivate this balance by offering flexible work arrangements when possible. If you can’t offer remote or hybrid work, consider letting employees work flexible schedules. A generous paid time off (PTO) policy goes a long way toward a rested and refreshed team.
To foster a culture of wellness and balance, consider running organizational initiatives focused on improving well-being. It’s also helpful to provide resources for employees to understand—and improve—their mental health.
3. Foster transparency
Open and transparent communication builds trust and engagement among employees. It’s especially key to be transparent about major decisions and big changes. Even better, involve employees in the decision and let them share their ideas and opinions.
As leaders, clearly communicate organizational goals, expectations, and challenges. As Brené Brown, a researcher on brave leadership, says, “Clear is kind. Unclear is unkind.”
4. Recognize and reward employees
We all want to feel seen and like our work matters. That’s why it’s meaningful to recognize and reward employees for a job well done. Recognition goes a long way, whether formal or informal (such as a manager calling out their direct report for great work), but setting up structured programs fosters a culture of recognition.
This may include peer recognition programs — where employees can formally celebrate each other’s work — or rewards systems that let employees collect points toward gifts or bonuses.
5. Perfect your onboarding process
Starting employees off on the right foot can set the tone for their long-term engagement. A smooth onboarding process makes new hires feel welcome, supported, and set up for success.
You can achieve this by clearly communicating expectations regarding roles and the company, integrating employees into the culture, and making sure they know where to find necessary information. Offer structured training for new hires and, above all, give employees an open, welcoming environment.
6. Promote autonomy
Employees with autonomy to do their best work and make decisions are often more engaged. While you may not be able to turn everyone loose without oversight, there are plenty of ways to give your teams more autonomy.
Look for places you can increase trust and decision-making freedom. Consider, too, how you respond to mistakes — a growth mindset goes a long way toward giving employees the autonomy to try new things. Foster an environment that encourages ownership for all levels; often, this starts by simply putting employees in charge of their own work schedules or locations.
7. Give constructive feedback regularly
Giving constructive feedback isn’t always easy, but the end result is twofold: employees improve their work, and you increase employee engagement. That’s because honest feedback makes employees feel seen and supported in their development.
The best way to share feedback is through regular, scheduled check-ins. Balance constructive feedback with areas where the employee excels, and exhibit a growth mindset when sharing constructive suggestions. Don’t forget to seek feedback from your team, too, as strong feedback is a two-way street.
8. Collect and act on employee feedback
Consistently seeking feedback from your employees will help you uncover gaps in engagement while also identifying areas for better organizational efficiency. You can seek individual feedback during scheduled check-ins with employees, but for the most comprehensive feedback, consider providing a variety of ways for workers to share. These could include employee surveys or focus groups; these employee survey questions can help you gather valuable insights.
Advertise an open-door policy and, most importantly, take action on employee feedback. When employees see their suggestions and concerns taken seriously, they will likely feel trusted and valued, leading to higher engagement. Show them that their voices matter.
9. Offer meaningful employee incentives
Employee incentives improve motivation and engagement by blending the benefits of recognition, work-life balance, and development. For instance, offering wellness benefits — such as gym memberships or discounts — encourages your team to focus on their lives outside of work while keeping them healthy.
You can also transform recognition from simply acknowledging great work to compensating high performers with bonuses or rewards. This gives employees a reason to strive for their best work, and the reward for success will increase their engagement.
Consider also offering incentives for professional development or when the team comes together for all-hands-on-deck crunch time.
10. Ensure competitive compensation and benefits
Of course, the greatest recognition and work-life balance can only go so far. If employees don’t feel like you’re compensating them fairly, they will likely seek new employment. Here are a few tips:
- First, offer fair compensation and benefits; this is critical to retaining an engaged workforce.
- Perform regular market research and salary audits to understand how your pay stacks up against the competition.
- Openly share your organization’s compensation philosophy with employees so they understand how exactly they are paid.
Remember that salaries are only one part of a strong compensation structure — offer strong health insurance benefits, retirement plans, and other perks where you can. To ensure you’re on the right track, gauge employee satisfaction and needs with employee benefits survey questions designed to refine workplace perks.
11. Emphasize corporate social responsibility
Many employees value organizations that give back to society. While yours may be a for-profit company, there are still plenty of opportunities to contribute to the social good, which also increases employee engagement.
Consider supporting charity programs—ideally, for nonpartisan and uncontroversial causes—and getting involved with the local community. You could also take a stance for sustainability and spearhead those efforts company-wide. Whichever you choose, involve employees directly, whether they give money or time (consider offering a set number of paid volunteer hours).
12. Embed core values into daily work
Whether written down or not, every organization has its own set of core values that drive daily work. Sharing those values with your teams — and leading by example — is one of many effective employee engagement strategies.
Find ways to align values with day-to-day tasks. To take it further, consider offering formal recognition for employees who demonstrate your values. Be sure that company policies and decisions also align with the stated values.
13. Cultivate a positive workplace culture
One of the best strategies for improving employee engagement is cultivating a positive culture. This starts with leaders, who should foster an inclusive, supportive environment for all employees, promoting the celebration and inclusion of diverse backgrounds. Employees who feel valued and supported for who they are will likely feel more engaged with the organization.
It’s also helpful to infuse the workday with fun when possible. Host team-building activities and include leaders so workers get to know them more personally. One unique option is to use interactive templates to encourage employee engagement and create a more dynamic work environment.
14. Develop strong leadership and management
Empathetic and effective leaders drive engagement. Make sure leaders are engaged, and provide ongoing leadership development opportunities to help them hone their skills. It’s also crucial to keep developing new leaders. Train managers, regardless of leadership tenure, on different leadership styles to ensure they can meet each employee’s needs with empathy.
Offer managers the chance to participate in mentorship programs, whether practicing their skills by mentoring someone, being mentored by a higher-level leader, or both.
15. Support remote and hybrid employees
Offering flexible working options like remote or hybrid work can drive employees’ sense of autonomy and work-life balance, but it can also be tricky to mitigate the mindset of “out of sight, out of mind.” These work models need tailored engagement strategies.
If you’ve got a distributed or remote team, try virtual team-building activities to help everyone connect. Leverage online collaboration tools, too, to keep everyone in the loop.
When developing policies, be sure to include all working styles and provide the same opportunities and guardrails for both onsite and remote workers.
16. Reinforce employee retention strategies
When you’re wondering how to improve employee engagement, it’s easy to lose sight of retention strategies you may already have. But retention strategies can go a long way toward boosting engagement, often solving similar problems.
Think about it: much of the work you do to foster retention includes offering development and growth, recognizing your workers, and communicating effectively — exactly what you want to do for engagement. Continue finding ways to enforce these strategies; you’ll see engagement and retention.
17. Leverage technology to boost engagement
There are plenty of employee engagement tools available that can help foster a motivated and productive workforce. Whether you want to streamline communication, drive collaboration, or source real-time feedback, several innovative tools are available.
For example, engagement platforms like Mentimeter can help you gather — and share — feedback. Look, too, for opportunities to optimize workflows and boost productivity to make your team more efficient. For the best results, find tools that provide data you can leverage to make decisions and improve your strategies for employee engagement.
Tips for choosing employee engagement strategies
What strategies can companies use to increase employee engagement, and how do you decide which ones to try? Here are a few tips:
- Assess company culture and values. Look for strategies that align with your organization’s culture, values, and mission.
- Understand your employees' needs. Seek out and listen to employee feedback to determine their priorities and desires.
- Leverage data and metrics. Keep track of engagement, retention, and satisfaction metrics. Use this data to inform your strategies.
- Start small and scale. Try out new strategies on a small scale first, assess how they go, and then roll them out to the organization.
- Include leadership in the process. Engage leaders and seek their buy-in, then have them lead by example to drive efforts.
- Consider long-term sustainability. While a quick win might feel nice at first, it’s better to implement strategies that will last and can scale over time.
Start using proven employee engagement strategies today
As you can see, there’s no limit to the employee engagement strategies you can try. It all depends on what your unique organization and employee base needs. It’s easy to get overwhelmed when determining strategies to improve employee engagement, but a tool like Mentimeter can help.
With interactive presentations, real-time feedback, and tools to foster collaboration, Mentimeter allows employees to share their voices, letting them feel valued and included. You can enhance communication, collaboration, and engagement all in one.
Level up your employee engagement with Mentimeter — sign up today!
Frequently asked questions
Still looking for information about employee engagement and retention strategies? We’ve got you covered with these FAQs.
What is the employee engagement strategy?
An employee engagement strategy is a set of initiatives created to improve employees’ job satisfaction, motivation, and overall engagement with their job and organization. When done well, these strategies help companies retain talent and foster a productive environment.
What is the golden rule of engagement?
The golden rule of engagement is to treat employees the way you’d like to be treated: with respect, transparency, and recognition. Employees who feel valued and trusted will likely be engaged, loyal, and hardworking.
What are the four pillars of employee engagement?
The four pillars of employee engagement are communication, development, recognition, and work-life balance. Together, these elements build a foundation for an engaged, motivated, and productive workforce.
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