Follow us on LinkedInOver the course of our careers in people leadership, we’ve seen just how powerful high engagement can be. It drives performance, boosts retention, and shapes a culture people want to be part of.
But we’ve also seen where organizations get it wrong, either by misunderstanding what engagement really means or by trying to shortcut their way to it with surface-level perks.
So how do you build a workforce that doesn’t just show up, but shows up with energy, creativity, and purpose? It starts by focusing on what really moves the needle:
- Meaningful work that aligns with individual strengths and company goals
- Trust in leadership and a sense of psychological safety
- Opportunities for growth and clear career development pathways
- A strong sense of belonging and connection to team and mission
Engagement begins at the top
Any successful engagement strategy must start with leadership. It’s not enough for HR to champion engagement; senior leaders and managers across the business need to be equally invested.
If leadership doesn’t visibly support and model a positive culture, even the best-designed programs will fall flat.
To get there, we need to secure buy-in from the top, whether that’s the board, the CEO, or the executive team. Influence at that level can be challenging, but it’s critical.
Engagement can't succeed in a vacuum. It has to be embedded in the business strategy and reinforced by the organization’s leadership behaviors.
Moving beyond satisfaction
Engagement and satisfaction are not the same. Satisfaction is foundational, ensuring employees have fair pay, benefits, and working conditions. But true engagement goes much further.
It's about creating an environment where people feel connected to their work, aligned with company values, and inspired to contribute.
Teresa Garanhel
We often refer to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs when thinking about engagement. At the base is satisfaction, essential but not differentiating. The higher tiers involve recognition, autonomy, purpose, and growth.
If we don’t get the basics right, we can’t begin to build true engagement. But focusing only on the basics leaves us short of unlocking an employee’s full potential.
Understand your organizational culture
One size never fits all. What drives engagement at a purpose-driven non-profit will look very different from what works in a performance-driven tech company or a consumer brand with strong fandom.
That’s why it’s so important to understand your own organizational culture before designing engagement programs. Ask yourself:
- Is your culture achievement-based? Focused on results, performance, and hitting goals?
- Is it purpose-driven? Centered around mission, values, and making an impact?
- Is it collaborative? Emphasizing teamwork, shared ownership, and open communication?
The more clearly you define your culture, the more effectively you can tailor engagement efforts to actually support and reinforce it.
At Ferrer, for instance, it was apparent early on that employees wanted clarity on advancement and growth, not just purpose or impact.
While over at Fanatics, employees were naturally drawn in by their passion for sport, and that energy can be captured, but it also needs to be supported with clarity, autonomy, and trust.
Autonomy builds loyalty
Few things kill engagement faster than micromanagement. One of the most powerful tools in any organisation is trust, giving people the autonomy to do their work and make decisions.
Autonomy signals belief in an employee’s capability, which in turn inspires ownership and pride.
A great example is Zappos’ approach to customer service. Rather than following rigid scripts, their agents were empowered to have real conversations with customers.
The results were exceptional, both in customer satisfaction and employee retention. Giving people freedom to solve problems creatively not only improved the customer experience, but created loyal employees who felt truly valued.
Train your frontline managers
We cannot overstate the importance of frontline managers in driving engagement. These are the people who interact with employees daily, interpret strategy, and influence workplace culture.
Yet they’re often the least trained in how to communicate, build trust, or handle difficult conversations.
If we had limited resources for training, we’d put the vast majority of them into developing frontline managers. Why? Because they influence the largest group of employees.
We’ve invested heavily in helping new managers learn to build trust, give feedback, communicate openly, and model integrity. Without that foundation, even the most ambitious engagement strategies can collapse.
Mawulom Nenonene
Communication and transparency matter
Every engagement survey we’ve ever run has included one persistent piece of feedback: “We want more transparency.”
Employees crave clarity on direction, on performance, on what’s changing and why. But even when leaders communicate, the message often doesn’t reach the people who need to hear it most.
Repetition is key. Your leadership team might tire of repeating the same four goals month after month, but your employees need to hear them 12 times a year to truly absorb them.
The CEO at Fanatics opens every town hall with the same core pillars. That consistency builds trust.
It’s not enough to say something once. You have to over-communicate. And just as importantly, you need to ensure messages cascade effectively through managers.
If employees don’t feel informed, it often means the message broke down between the CEO and the team lead.
Feedback loops: Listening and acting
Feedback is only meaningful if it’s acted upon. Nothing disengages people faster than feeling ignored.
Whether through surveys, listening sessions, or manager conversations, feedback should lead to action, and those actions should be clearly communicated back to employees.
At Ferrer, a two-way feedback is embedded into performance reviews, with questions like: “What do I need from you to be successful?” and “What’s one thing I wish you did differently?”
When done well (and supported with proper training) this creates a culture where feedback is not a threat but a path to improvement.
We also believe in transparency around feedback outcomes. If you survey your team, pick two clear things to improve, and then tell them about it again and again.
It builds a cycle of trust: you spoke, we listened, here’s what we’re doing.
Build a sense of belonging
Inclusion is essential to engagement. It’s not enough to have a diverse workforce; people need to feel they belong. Inclusion means employees can show up authentically, share ideas freely, and connect meaningfully with others.
We’ve seen huge impact from inclusive initiatives that go beyond hiring practices, celebrating cultural festivals, hosting team-building events, or simply creating space for connection.
At Fanatics, for example, Diwali celebrations have helped foster a sense of cultural appreciation in offices with large Indian tech teams. These aren’t just “nice to have” activities, they make people feel seen.
Programs don’t need to be grand. Even a simple “Fantastic Friday” or “Wellness Wednesday” can make a difference if it’s done with authenticity and reinforces your broader culture.
Engagement is a strategy, not a project
Many companies run isolated events or projects aimed at engagement (a town hall here, a hackathon there) but don’t connect them into a coherent program. If you want engagement to move the needle, you need a strategy.
That means having clear goals, tying activities back to feedback, and being explicit with employees: “We are working on engagement, and here’s how.”
If you don’t name it, you risk employees thinking your efforts are scattershot or superficial. And if you don’t measure it, you’ll never know what’s working.
That said, not everything needs to be part of a formal program. Sometimes you need to throw noodles at the wall, experimenting with activities, seeing what resonates.
Different people engage in different ways. Some love mindfulness sessions; others crave all-hands updates. That diversity of need is natural. The trick is to pay attention and adapt.
Tie engagement to purpose, but don’t assume purpose is enough
There’s no question that mission-driven companies enjoy a natural boost in engagement. Employees who believe in what they’re doing tend to work harder and stay longer. But purpose alone isn’t always enough.
We’ve learned that some organizations (particularly achievement-oriented ones) place greater emphasis on growth, opportunity, and success than mission. If you talk only about purpose, you risk missing what actually matters most to your employees.
Ask yourself: Do our people want to make an impact, or do they want to level up? The answer will shape how you communicate, develop, and reward them.
Crina Pupaza
Final thoughts: Engagement is built, not bought
Ultimately, engagement isn’t a perk. It’s not a foosball table, a free lunch, or even a flexible work policy. Engagement is the product of trust, clarity, inclusion, and purpose. It’s created when employees feel heard, valued, and empowered.
One piece of advice going forward: Find what’s unique about your company and build towards that. Whether it’s a passion for sports, pride in innovation, or saving lives through science, help employees connect their day-to-day efforts to something meaningful.
Hire for it. Train for it. Communicate it. Repeat it. And above all, trust your people.
Because when engagement is done right, it’s not just an HR metric, it’s a competitive advantage.
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