Last Updated: October 2026
Why can’t our team achieve our goals? Why are we losing good employees? Why are certain areas of the business suffering from lower productivity? Why do we have more customer complaints than this time last year? Why is our absence rate so high?
Are these some of the questions that you have been hearing recently from your managers or clients? The answers to all of these questions could be that the employees are not engaged with the organisation.
Gallup’s latest State of the Global Workplace 2026 reports that 20% of employees worldwide were engaged in 2025, while only 12% of employees in Europe were engaged.
The CIPD define employee engagement as ‘Being focused in what you do (thinking), feeling good about yourself in your role and the organisation (feeling), and acting in a way that demonstrates commitment to the organisational value and objectives (acting).’
What affects employee engagement?
The global economy has forced many organisations to make cutbacks, including restructuring. This can mean employees have to cope with the same demands while having fewer resources available to them, which can have a significant impact on their wellbeing.
Employee engagement is strongly influenced by people and their working environment. There are also many variables that can affect an employee’s level of engagement at a particular time, including factors outside the workplace, such as their home life.
Organisations therefore need to understand the causes of low engagement and consider whether they can be attributed to the workplace. If this is the case, action should be taken.
How does employee engagement affect business performance?
Evidence suggests that employee engagement has a significant effect on business performance in the following ways:
- Higher profitability – Highly engaged teams achieve 23% higher profitability than teams with lower engagement, according to Gallup’s latest meta-analysis.
- Higher productivity – Highly engaged teams achieve 14% higher productivity based on production records and evaluations. They also achieve 18% higher sales productivity.
- Lower staff turnover – Highly engaged teams experience lower turnover. Gallup found 21% lower turnover in high-turnover organisations and 51% lower turnover in low-turnover organisations.
- Lower absenteeism – Highly engaged teams experience 78% less absenteeism than teams with lower engagement.
- A happier, more enjoyable environment – provides a more content workforce
- More effective communication – employees connect better with one another and with their stakeholders when they are engaged
- More productive conflict – An engaged workforce can help create an environment where employees feel comfortable contributing to solutions and working through challenges. Learn more about productive conflict.
- Greater potential – Engaged employees are more likely to feel motivated to develop their skills and contribute to their organisation.
- More creative thinking – Engaged teams can provide an environment where new ideas and innovative solutions can be explored.
In addition, a lack of employee engagement can contribute to poor-quality services or products. This can negatively affect an organisation’s brand and reputation. It can also contribute to workplace accidents when employees become disengaged or “switch off”, ultimately affecting the organisation’s bottom line.
Engagement = performance
Employee engagement is widely recognised as an important factor in workplace performance. However, some organisations still do not prioritise it. Common reasons include budget constraints, competing priorities, uncertainty about where to begin or the assumption that employees are already engaged.
How can you measure employee engagement?
How do you know if your employees are truly engaged? One way to gather this information is through an employee engagement survey. Surveys can provide useful insight into how employees feel about their work and organisation.
Another tool that can provide more detailed insight into individual behaviours, preferences and motivators is DiSC profiling. DiSC can help people understand their own behavioural styles and those of their colleagues. This can give managers and teams a better understanding of what motivates different people and how they may prefer to work.
Why Managers are vital to employee engagement
Research by Gallup stated that ‘Managers account for 70% of variance in engagement.’
Managers play a vital role in creating and sustaining employee engagement. But where do they start? A manager’s behaviour is particularly important, so managers should first identify their own management style. They can then develop a better understanding of their team’s needs. Both can be supported through DiSC profiling.
Some employees prefer to work independently and feel empowered to make their own decisions. Others prefer more hands-on management, with greater direction and mentoring. Not everyone is motivated by financial incentives, either.
Adobe’s 2016 research found that nearly half of workers would take a pay cut for their ideal job.
Managers need to understand what motivates their individual team members. DiSC profiling can provide managers with insight into different behavioural styles, helping them adapt their approach to individual needs. This can help managers develop their own skills while building more effective, high-performing teams through sustainable employee engagement. Learn more about how DiSC can help managers become better managers. Do your managers have the right training and skills to put this into practice? Organisations need to support managers so they can effectively implement their employee engagement strategy.
How to encourage employee engagement
- Support managers to value each member of their team, recognising that every role is valuable
- Set clear goals and vision for clarity and guidance, recognising each member has their part to play in the success of the organisation
- Be fair and consistent
- Employee recognition for jobs well done – little things do make a difference to make them feel appreciated
- Allow employee empowerment, rather than complete control, while supporting development of individuals
- Handle conflict efficiently and effectively, providing an open opportunity to raise concerns – an environment that encourages peer-to-peer recognition shows people don’t have a fear of speaking up but do still have respect for others
- Build trust and integrity throughout teams
- Keep communicating and encourage your teams to communicate with all stakeholders too.
People are key to success!
Employee engagement should be an integral part of the organisation’s strategy, successfully communicated and championed by all. So, to all those who are putting employee engagement on the back burner, consider bringing this forward. A compelling business argument can be made to support the cause, with employee engagement practices being positively linked to key business metrics.
Don’t delay; find out more about how to implement DiSC profiling and improve employee engagement by getting in touch with us today.
