I’ve been working as a consultant in the employee engagement space for over 20 years. Having just completed the analysis and write-up for our 2022 State of Engagement white paper, I’ve been doing some reflecting on what we learned and the broader themes I’ve observed over time. Here are a few thoughts I want to share.

Historically Newmeasures has provided a rolling engagement survey benchmark that aggregated data across several years (as do many survey vendors). The benefit of this approach is it increases the number of companies included in the pool of benchmark data. Pre-COVID, this was a great strategy. As with many things in life, the pandemic changed that. When we isolated the years of 2019, 2020, and 2021 the differences in employee perceptions of the work experience were striking.

As you might imagine, each of these years was unique. Combining data across them into one normative view washed out the story of the sudden change, the uncertainty, the innovation, the re-evaluating, and re-calibrating.  When looking at the data, the pace of the change in the world and the different waves we’ve been riding are undeniable. We all know that we are in a time of rapid change (it is impacting every single one of us on a soul level), but to see it reflected in employee feedback from hundreds of organizations is unlike anything I’ve seen in my career. The work experience is evolving at record pace, and we are all going through it together.

The second point that got my attention was the change in engagement drivers. Each year we look at the top drivers of employee engagement. These are the topics that are most highly correlated with engagement. We recommend organizations put effort into these areas to improve engagement overall. Five years ago, most organizations were not even asking questions about employee well-being and belonging on their surveys. In 2021, these topics were top drivers of employee engagement. I find it fascinating that we are more focused on human connection and mental health at a time when we are more physically separated and stressed out than ever. Is that because we have no other choice? Or are we really starting to embrace the fact that environments that allow employees to be healthy, to be themselves, and to be whole, actually make good business sense? Maybe it doesn’t matter why. Maybe what matters is that in going through a shared tragedy, we are collectively reminded that we are humans first. Our productivity, status, and material wealth only get us so far in the grand scheme of things.

When I looked at our employee feedback data on retention, I saw that employers that make work worthwhile (which I define as: time at work is well spent because it offers me a sense of meaning, connection, and/or the opportunity to contribute) are the ones who earn real loyalty, commitment, and effort. As a society, employees are saying it is time to break down structures that haven’t been working and build new ones that elevate each of us, so we thrive collectively and unlock our own unique potential.

Looking at 2022 and the years ahead, there is no doubt there is more change in front of us. We aren’t done figuring out the new systems. Treating employees as “human” first isn’t going anywhere any time soon (or hopefully ever). So how can organizations be prepared to navigate the challenges we may not yet even be able to imagine? How do we intentionally invent new ways of enriching the employee experience while at the same time meeting other organizational goals around customers, profitability, and stewardship?

The only answer I can come up with is that we listen. Not only do we listen, but we prioritize getting really good at listening. We get good at listening when things are calm and steady, and we are poised and ready to listen when the curve balls come. When the unexpected happens, we need to be ready to check in and ask employees what they need and harness their ideas to help us innovate. We listen for themes, and we listen to individuals. We listen to know and celebrate what’s going well. We ask, we fine tune, and repeat.

The last three years have taught all of us that change is inevitable. We can’t go back to how things were. Employees are voting for employers who value the human experience with their loyalty. And more change is on the horizon… so we navigate by listening. We are more adaptable, creative, compassionate and powerful when we first listen. When we start there, we can solve any problem.

While we know that engagement is important, we often get stuck when we actually try to improve it. Many articles on the subject offer vague, general recommendations about what you can do, such as “make engagement a daily focus” and “work to build trust.” While these are noble goals, they’re not immediately actionable and likely require multiple different strategies to achieve.

There’s no silver bullet with engagement; for any intervention to be effective, you’ll have to consider the organization’s unique context. Just because something works for Google (nap pods and slides) doesn’t mean it will work for you. But there are things that have been shown to improve engagement across industries and demographics.

Here are three actions you can take right away to impact employee engagement:

1) Have a career conversation

One of the best predictors of an employee’s engagement is their confidence in their career. If people—and millennials in particular—don’t feel like they can achieve their professional goals at your organization, they’ll likely become disengaged and move on to another workplace that better supports their growth.

Having professional development and advancement opportunities available to employees is definitely important to employees being able to envision their future at your organization. But one simple thing you can do right away is begin having conversations with employees about their career goals.

What do you want to achieve in your professional life? Where do you see yourself in a year (or five, or ten)? How can we help you get there?

Asking these questions to begin conversations with employees about their goals is powerful. Our research has found that people who said they had a meaningful professional development conversation with their supervisor in the past year were four times more likely to be engaged at work than those who didn’t!

For these conversations to be meaningful, managers must be prepared to not only ask the right questions, but also listen and respond to what is shared. They should work collaboratively with the employee to determine what type of support would be most helpful and come up with a plan to help the employee get it. Managers should also be diligent about ensuring that these types of conversations are held with everyone and not just a select few, as this could come across to as favoritism and reduce team morale. In sum, encouraging and supporting those in supervisory roles to have meaningful career conversations with their direct reports can have an immediate positive effect on overall engagement in your organization.

2) Say “thank you”

Everyone wants to be appreciated because it feels good. But there’s also a business benefit to expressing gratitude, a fact that most leaders now realize. As a result, many organizations have now come up with big rewards programs to encourage innovation and performance. While these systems can be effective, recognition doesn’t need to be a big to-do.

Time and again, we’ve found that the most impactful form of recognition is a simple “thank you” offered in real time. Whether it was a small win or an impressive effort, take the time to slow down and appreciate all of those who contributed. Having a conversation, delivering a handwritten note, or even treating the person to coffee are all effective ways of doing this.

When you offer your feedback, be as specific as you can about what it is that you’re grateful for. “Good job everyone!” is nice to hear, but won’t contribute as much to long-term engagement as something more personal, like “Chelsea, we wouldn’t have been able to sign this new client without the detailed proposal you created. Thanks for putting so much care into it!”

Showing gratitude may happen on an individual basis, but the effects can quickly permeate your organization and create a culture of appreciation. Thanks no longer flows just from leaders and managers to employees, but between team members and colleagues. When everyone feels like their work is recognized, they are much more likely to stick around and go that extra mile in the future.

3) Communicate the mission

By now, what organization doesn’t have a mission statement that makes it clear to the world how deeply their leaders care about their ____ (insert: customers, employees, communities, planet)? And for good reason: a compelling mission with strong core values can help direct and clarify strategic goals, as well as increase employee engagement by providing a deeper sense of meaning to the work being done.

However, if you asked many employees to rattle off your mission statement, you might find that many of them are unable to do so. If that’s the case, your mission is probably not having a tangible impact on how employees approach their work each day.

To change this, consider infusing your company communications with the language of your core values and mission. Newsletters and blogs are easy targets where you can communicate the vision, but you can also incorporate this language into meetings and check-ins with staff.

Doing this helps to tie daily work back to a larger purpose. It also helps instill trust that decisions at all levels are being guided by a commitment to the mission. These things can make work feel more meaningful and result in people putting in additional effort to ensure the organization’s continued success.