How managers can boost employee engagement

By: Shelby Campbell, Edited by: Mitch Jacobson

Published: June 17, 2025

Engaged employees are an advantage to their workplaces — they're often more productive, less absent, and more dedicated to the organization's success. That's why, especially during times of economic unease, managers must develop leadership skills to motivate employees and help them enjoy contributing to the common goal.

Leadership skills prevail in the digital era

As economic and technological disruptions force workers to pivot and reskill, leadership abilities are increasingly in demand in the job market. Research by edX shows that workers think executive leadership is the third most important technical skill set for career advancement, behind AI and data analysis.

You can discover new strategies to encourage employee engagement on edX. Find an online executive education course to grow your leadership and management skills today.

What is employee engagement?

Employee engagement refers to whether or not employees are interested and invested in their work. Unengaged employees don't work as hard as engaged ones or care about whether their organization or direct team accomplishes its goals. Their work — or lack thereof — may even negate the work that more engaged employees do.

According to Gallup's 2025 State of the Workplace report, global manager engagement fell from 30% to 27% in 2024. As a result, only 21% of employees reported being engaged in their jobs, falling from 23% in 2023 for only the second time in 12 years.

That report also shows that managers are responsible for 70% of employee engagement. As a manager, you must intentionally upskill to find new ways to help your employees feel motivated at work.

5 steps to increase employee engagement at work

1. Set clear expectations.

Your team can't do good work without clear guidelines defining what makes work good. Make sure employees have a solid grasp of your expectations about their daily responsibilities, and provide them with ample explanations when tasking them with projects. The more they know about what you and other leadership need from them, the better they can accomplish organizational goals.

Here are some tips to help you communicate your standards:

• Define the team's goals with specific examples and metrics
• Provide concrete examples of successful work
• Brainstorm ways to accomplish goals with your team

2. Ask for feedback.

Do you know how you could improve as a manager? Consider asking those who have experience working with you.

Requesting feedback helps establish open lines of communication with your team. By opening yourself to constructive criticism, you create a psychologically safe environment with mutual respect between managers and employees.

For example:

• One of your employees' productivity has steadily fallen over the past six weeks. Instead of insinuating that the employee is the problem and potentially affecting their productivity further, you ask for ways to provide support to help bring their productivity back.

3. Emphasize the value of your team's work.

Your team should know how their work contributes to your organization's success. To do this, you can publicly and privately acknowledge how their work helped move an aspect of the business forward.

Employees who understand how their work drives progress may feel like they're working toward something bigger than themselves. It can unite your team and make them feel like valuable contributors, rather than cogs in a machine.

For example:

• A member of your team has streamlined an essential everyday process. You decide to recognize this employee's achievement during your weekly team meeting by discussing how the change saves everyone time and money.

4. Build relationships with your team.

Strong manager-employee relationships can motivate your team to work hard. Demonstrate that you care about your employees, not just their work. Support them through work and life challenges, and provide opportunities for them to be open and honest about how you can support them.

Here are some tips to help you strengthen your relationships with your team members:

• Schedule routine, non-work-related check-ins.
• Advocate for their needs.
• Communicate about how to support them.
• Provide opportunities for professional development.
• Celebrate individual and team wins.

5. Compound on employee strengths.

Everyone has natural strengths and weaknesses. Managers can recognize these and help their employees find opportunities to flex these strengths. Try to find ways for each employee to do what they're good at every day.

For example:

• You have two employees on your team. One excels at communication and emotional intelligence, while the other prefers analytics and problem-solving. You can assign projects based on their natural strengths to motivate them, make them feel uniquely crucial in their roles, and keep them interested in their duties.

Why employee engagement matters

• Productivity: Engaged employees are also productive employees. When your team feels engaged in their work, they put more time and energy into accomplishing goals.
• Quality: Engaged employees also focus more on quality work. They're often more likely to pay close attention to detail and thrive on a team than less engaged employees.
• Dedication: When your employees are engaged in their work, they're likely more devoted to seeing the organization succeed than unengaged workers.
• Motivation: Engaged employees can derive satisfaction from your organization's success, motivating them to work hard toward the common goal.

By failing to engage your employees, you could miss out on improved revenue while increasing absenteeism and potentially damaging your organization's reputation. Gallup reports that organizations with higher employee engagement experience fewer thefts and accidents and higher quality, profitability, and customer loyalty.

Sign up for an Executive Education course on edX today and discover how employee engagement techniques can help you find and keep a leadership role across industries.

Your next steps on edX

Help your team thrive. Build your leadership skills and find new management techniques with online courses on edX. Here are your next steps:

1. Take a leadership course to build new skills.
2. Earn a degree in management or entrepreneurship on edX.
3. Explore Executive Education programs for professional development opportunities on edX.