U.S. Employee Engagement Dropped and What to Do About It in 2023

The data is in from Gallup, and U.S. employee engagement has significantly dropped: it's time for businesses to take action in 2023.

In this article, we will review the following:

• What do contributing factors seem to be for lower employee engagement?

• Who is most at-risk for disengagement?

• What can we do about improving employee engagement in 2023?

What is Employee Engagement?

Shawn Achor shared data in his book, The Happiness Advantage, that success in school (and the workplace) for individuals goes up when they feel a connection with the people and the culture of an organization or institution.

Employee engagement is the emotional attachment an employee has to their job and organization.

Engaged employees are enthusiastic about their work, believe in the company’s mission, and provide better customer service. In short, engaged employees are more productive and play a larger role in organizational success.

You can recognize signs of an engaged team from the following outcomes:

• Individuals offer ideas and solutions to problems the organization and its customers face.

• If the meeting is remote (e.g. Zoom, Teams, etc.), video cameras are turned on. Cameras-off is a clear signal of "I'm doing something else, and I don't want you to see."

• Team members recommend friends and former colleagues to fill vacancies in your organization.

Indirectly, you can see an impact on key performance indicators such as safety ratings, customer satisfaction, and reductions in absenteeism, tardiness, and employee turnover.

Enhancing employee engagement is among the Top 5 strategic initiatives for executive leaders around the world according to Society for Human Resources Management.

The Stats on Lower Engagement in the United States

A Gallup article shared the following insights for U.S. employee engagement:

• Engaged employees: 36% in 2020 down to 32% in 2022

• Engaged-to-Disengaged Employee Ratio: 2.7 engaged to 1 disengaged employee in 2019 is down to 1.8:1 in 2022

This is from data collected in 2022 from over 15,000 U.S. workers in both full-time and part-time employment statuses.

Combine this with a hot labor market in 2022 and it should be no surprise that over 50 million people quit their jobs in the United States that year according to a CNBC report in February 2023.

Who is At-Risk for Disengagement?

The three broad categories for at-risk employees were younger employees (35 years old and younger), women, and remote-remote employees who have to work on-site.

These groups expressed experiencing a decline in feeling cared about at work and having someone who encourages their development. Younger employees expressed wanting more opportunities to grow, knowing their opinions, skills, and insights count, and having a best friend at work. Women shared a desire to have regular progress discussions on how they are doing on their career path.

The biggest changes in reduced employee engagement and increased active disengagement were seen among those who work in remote-ready positions but are required to work on-site anyway. Active engagement dropped by five points while active disengagement increased by seven points.

What Can We Do About Improving Employee Engagement in 2023?

Looking at the information shared above a trend appears on what ingredients are needed to increase employee engagement and reduce active disengagement. 

While workplace attitudes are ultimately an inside job, leaders can create environments that foster and reinforce the desired engagement. Here are some ideas drawn from organizations that have improved engagement despite the uphill battle faced by organizations across the world.

Ingredients for Increased Engagement

• Freedom or autonomy

• Connection - to the mission and each other

• Impact

• Growth

It's time to take action. If your organization conducts an official employee engagement survey, lean on that data and your local Human Resources and Talent Management teams for guidance.

An unofficial way to collect useful data from your employees is to have regular conversations with them asking how they are doing, what is working well, and what ideas they have for improvements to the workflow, products, and services. It's a great way to build trust and connection and get immediately actionable data from your team.

Freedom and Autonomy

If you're a leader who feels the need to micro-manage including keeping people on-site all day every day, you're already choosing to lose in today's workforce environment. Consider giving more freedom and autonomy to your teams so they can create the environment that works best for them.

Remote-ready workers are ready to work remotely. Did I just point out the obvious like a commentator for an NFL broadcast? Yes, I did!

Allowing for flexibility to juggle work and life with clarity on performance expectations goes a long way to communicate to employees that you care about and trust them.

Let employees own areas of responsibility. Setting clear expectations on intent, standards, and decision-making authority creates the stage where your employees take on a sense of pride for the outcomes of their responsibilities, grow in their profession, and feel valued.

Connection

Make sure everyone knows what the mission of the organization is, why it matters, and how their work contributes. When team members have visibility into how their work impacts the success or failure of projects or initiatives, they receive feedback that their work matters.

Additionally, while there is a desire to work remotely, there is a need for connection among peers and leadership in-person that you cannot create through a remote video call. Leaders can create a sense of connection among co-workers by having regularly scheduled 1-on-1 connection points with employees, especially if working remotely. Have the team decide what days will be in-office days for everyone, such as Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and/or Thursdays. Let the team decide, and support its consistency.

During the lockdown of the COVID-19 pandemic, I would host an all-day Zoom call on Fridays and invite my entire team to join. It wasn't a meeting. There was no agenda, and no obligation to chat. I played a music playlist where songs were submitted by the team. This was mostly social in nature. The team learned a lot about each other and shared they felt closer to each other as a result.

Leaders may underestimate the value of visiting remote employees on a quarterly basis. I once worked for a director whose team was spread out among multiple cities in two different states. She made it a point to visit all of her employees once a quarter, take them out for a meal, and let them show off what they had been up to. I'll admit that experiencing this in my early 40s did not stop me from acting like a kid in Kindergarten showing off crayon drawings. The sense of loyalty I had for that leader, team, and the organization's mission was off the charts!

Impact and Growth

Merely feeling grateful to have a job doesn't cut it anymore. Certain industries may experience a recession, but people are savvy today in discovering lateral skills and starting up their own businesses making the labor market more competitive than ever before.

Employees need to understand how their unique skills, talents, and personality impacts the organization and its goals. Show them what success looks like and offer encouragement along the way. Annual performance reviews need to be more than a check-the-box-HR-is-making-us-do-this chore. Leaders miss out on goal-setting opportunities by glossing over this process and further miss out on opportunities to grow their employees through regular progress meetings on goals.

If you have 30 or fewer employees reporting to you, there is no reason why you cannot create a 15-minute meeting with each individual employee to check in with them. If you have 30-60 employees, every other month. If you have more than 60 employees reporting to you, (1) break that down with another layer of leadership if you can, and (2) connect with your employees quarterly.

Dan Cockerell, a retired VP of Magic Kingdom Park at Walt Disney World, shared with me that his executive assistant would remind him daily to go out and meet with Cast Members rain or shine. If it was raining, she'd hand him an umbrella and insist he meets with Cast Members who were working in the rain.

With the right leadership and engagement strategies, organizations can create a culture of employee engagement that will lead to lasting success.

Resources and Further Reading

Ariella, S. (2023). 27 US Employee Turnover Statistics [2023]: Average Employee Turnover Rate, Industry Comparisons, And Trends. Zippia. https://www.zippia.com/advice/employee-turnover-statistics/  

Byham, T. M., & Wellins, R. S. (2015). Your first leadership job: How Catalyst Leaders Bring Out the Best in Others. John Wiley & Sons.

Daryn. (2022). The difference between engaged and disengaged employees |. TimeWellScheduled | Managing Employees Has Never Been Easier. https://timewellscheduled.com/the-difference-between-engaged-and-disengaged-employees/ 

Dugan, J. (2023, April 13). U.S. Employee Engagement Dropped and What to Do About It in 2023. LinkedIn Newsletter - Living Beyond the Rut. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/us-employee-engagement-dropped-what-do-2023-jerry-dugan   

Harter, J. (2023, January 25). U.S. Employee Engagement Needs a Rebound in 2023. Gallup Workplace. https://www.gallup.com/workplace/468233/employee-engagement-needs-rebound-2023.aspx 

Janes, G., Mills, T., Budworth, L., Johnson, J., & Lawton, R. (2021). The Association Between Health Care Staff Engagement and Patient Safety Outcomes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Journal of Patient Safety, 17(3), 207–216. https://doi.org/10.1097/pts.0000000000000807

Sipe, J. W., & Frick, D. M. (2009). Seven Pillars of Servant Leadership: Practicing the Wisdom of Leading by Serving.

Supporting patient safety culture in healthcare requires higher employee engagement. (2022, January 27). https://info.pressganey.com/press-ganey-blog-healthcare-experience-insights/supporting-patient-safety-requires-higher-employee-engagement