Eager to improve productivity at your organization? It’s time to prioritize engagement.
Various studies show companies with high employee engagement deliver strong results across the board. They’re more productive, achieve higher profit margins and experience lower turnover. The takeaway is clear — leaders who prioritize engagement reap all kinds of efficiency benefits too.
So what does this look like in practice? Let’s break it down now.
Why engagement matters beyond job satisfaction
There’s a reason engaged workforces are more productive than disengaged ones. A satisfied employee enjoys their job, but an engaged one is invested in company success. They take pride in their work and push projects forward with energy that spreads across teams.
The end result? More productivity and profits. Research has long shown companies with engaged workforces achieve higher earnings per share and consistently outperform competitors. On the other end of the spectrum, disinterested and disengaged employees — which make up a large swatch of the global workforce — cost the world economy a whopping $438 billion in lost productivity.
When employees feel connected and supported, performance follows. Actively working to increase employee engagement allows you to protect against costly disengagement while unlocking higher levels of output, retention and morale.
How engagement translates to measurable productivity gains
Fostering a workplace culture of highly engaged employees leads to all kinds of measurable results. Some of the most important include:
Lower turnover and attrition
The less engaged an employee, the greater your risk of losing a talented team member to voluntary turnover. And if you fail to prevent or reverse the issue, your attrition rate will suffer too. Achieving higher employee engagement levels makes people feel valued and appreciated, keeping both metrics at a healthy rate. In fact, 78% of workers say they’d be more productive if their employers simply showed appreciation more frequently.
Fewer distractions and errors
Another reason companies with highly engaged employees experience better business outcomes? Actively engaged employees know how to focus on what matters — and how to stay on task. They’re more resilient to the workplace distractions that pull others off course. And because they’re motivated to deliver quality work, they pay more attention to detail and make fewer mistakes.
Better collaboration and knowledge sharing
High engagement also strengthens team trust and collaboration. Employees who feel their contributions matter are more likely to share knowledge, coordinate across departments and align around shared goals. That’s why engaged workforces are more innovative — they surface better ideas faster and execute with less friction.
Faster ramp-up and shorter learning curves
Engagement also speeds up time to productivity among new employees. Why? Because connected teams are motivated to share best practices and mentor peers, and to make the onboarding experience as seamless as possible. This results in accelerated learning and a strong start for new hires, keeping engagement and performance inextricably linked.
Higher goal attainment
Finally, engaged employees are more likely to hit and even exceed targets. Teams aligned on clear goals openly track progress, hold each other accountable and course-correct as needed. Whether it’s quarterly sales numbers, customer satisfaction benchmarks or project delivery timelines, organizations that prioritize engagement consistently outperform peers.
Best practices for driving engagement and productivity
Whether you need to reengage actively disengaged employees or want to build on existing strengths, start with these best practices.
1. Clarify your goals
One of the best ways to improve employee engagement? Make your goals crystal clear. When employees understand expectations, they focus on outcomes that matter. They also see how their contributions connect to broader objectives, instilling a sense of ownership. And as employees succeed, productivity rises.
2. Ask for feedback
Whether you use surveys, 360-degree feedback or productivity measurement tools, the key is to solicit feedback on an ongoing basis. Ask about work-life balance, workloads and team culture to help managers spot issues early. This makes it easy to adjust support as needed, long before employee engagement and productivity suffer.
3. Reward employee performance
Rewarding employees for jobs well done is another simple but effective management strategy. Motivate employees to do their best work by calling attention to both big achievements and small wins. Even a simple thank-you email goes a long way. In fact, organizations with formal recognition programs are 12 times more likely to report strong business outcomes and experience 31% less voluntary turnover.
4. Support learning and development
Did you know 63% of employees leave jobs because of a lack of advancement opportunities? But invest in training and development programs, and retention rates stay high. Look for opportunities to upskill team members on new tools, offer online courses or provide mentorship. This not only increases engagement but also helps prevent costly skills gaps.
5. Invest in technology
The right technology makes it easier to sustain high levels of engagement and, in turn, productivity. Look for tools that provide real-time visibility into workloads, work hours and other insights that allow you to spot early signs of burnout and disengagement.
Barriers that undermine engagement and productivity
In addition to understanding engagement drivers, you must know what undermines it. Watch for these common pitfalls.
1. Poorly designed workflows
Smooth workflows keep employees motivated. But inefficient processes? They cause a lot of damage. Unnecessary steps, overly complicated tools and too many reviewers frustrate employees and threaten to unravel your hard work at boosting engagement and productivity.
2. Inconsistent leadership behavior
Did you know only 27% of managers are engaged at work? Disengaged managers lead to disengaged teams, making unreliable leadership a big threat to productivity at most organizations. After all, you can’t fully support employees until leaders set the tone by demonstrating commitment, involvement and trust.
3. A lack of incentives
Employees need to know their efforts matter, making rewards crucial for keeping motivation high. A lack of flexible hours, public praise and other incentives does a lot of harm. Without a reason to work hard, engagement drops — and productivity follows.
Turn engagement into sustainable productivity with ActivTrak
Engagement directly impacts how much employees achieve, how long they stay and how effectively they work with colleagues. And leaders who measure it protect their organizations from lost productivity.
This is where ActivTrak comes in. Our productivity management software equips you with the insights you need to rebalance workloads, reduce burnout and see when it’s time to reward teams for hard work. And there’s no cost to start. Sign up for a free account to see why 9,500 organizations rely on ActivTrak to sustain high levels of both employee engagement and productivity.
