Employee Engagement Is on the Rise

Employee engagement was on the rise as 2020 came to a close. That’s according to Gallup’s most recent inquiry into the topic, which found that engagement levels increased to 39 percent in January 2021, up from 36 percent late last year. Engagement has been steadily increasing over the past decades, but the turmoil of 2020 created never-before-seen fluctuations in employee engagement levels. In early March and mid-May of last year, engagement reached 38 percent, but then dropped to 31 percent in June as racially charged protests erupted across the country. By July, however, engagement had recovered to a record 40 percent. Now sitting nicely at 39 percent, Gallup researchers offer several reasons for the increase and stabilization. For one, employees say they are getting more feedback. This might be due in part to employers adjusting for new remote work and hybrid work models. Despite the ups and downs of 2020, overall employee engagement seems to be on the rise, but 2021 has just begun and there are several key factors still up in the air as the pandemic abates.