Re-Engage the Workforce

Employee disengagement is a pressing issue for talent leaders, as workers increasingly question their purpose and place in the workplace. Recent crises have only intensified the problem, although the undercurrent of dissatisfaction has been building for years.

For its 2024 State of the Global Workplace report, Gallup surveyed approximately 120,000 workers across more than 140 countries and found that only 23 percent of the global workforce is engaged. That costs the global economy $8.9 trillion, or 9 percent of global gross domestic product. Disengagement is an ongoing crisis that has left many leaders wondering how to re-engage a workforce that has fundamentally shifted its expectations.

To assess the cause of dissatisfaction, discover employee motivators, and reveal de-motivators, I interviewed workers around the world for my book, Why Are We Here?

A common statement I received from respondents is that “Life is short.” Today, people want more than just a paycheck; they want their work to have purpose. If we want to re-engage our workforces, we need to focus on five key strategies.

Pay is hygiene; purpose is motivation

Strong corporate hygiene is the foundation for all high-performing cultures. According to psychologist Frederick Herzberg, hygiene factors include compensation, safe working conditions, job security, absence of micromanaging, adequate workspaces, and belonging. Those standards are rights, not perks. Don’t confuse managing worker dissatisfaction with an engagement strategy.

In a global survey of more than 16,000 workers, one out of two agreed that they would take a 20 percent pay cut to improve their quality of life. Seventy-four percent agreed with the statement, “I don't think it's worth working at a job that increases your personal stress.” The latest Gallup data found that workers looking to quit in 2024 significantly eclipses the numbers from the Great Resignation, showcasing how workplace stress and dissatisfaction are compelling people to look elsewhere. Gallup has labeled the trend the Great Detachment.

To increase engagement, realign employee values with the day-to-day work experience. Workers want to see values in action, not just in the employee handbook. When individuals believe that their work is tiring, boring, or irritating, they disconnect from the company’s purpose.

Picture an employee, Mostafa, who works in quality control at an automotive manufacturing plant. His personal values are deeply tied to family and community. He volunteers at a food bank, coaches his son’s soccer team, and never misses his daughter’s dance recitals.

Mostafa’s supervisor, Gillian, is aware of his dedication to people, commitment to detail, and diligent attitude. Gillian shares stories with Mostafa of people who benefit from his work such as when he installed a drowsiness detection system that saved a single mother who was so exhausted after working a double shift at the hospital that she fell asleep at the wheel. Aligning such results with Mostafa’s known values turns ordinary tasks into extraordinary experiences, enabling him to qualify his day-to-day value.

Hope is fundamental

The 2024 results of the American Psychiatric Association’s annual mental health poll reveal that nearly half of US adults feel more anxious than they did the previous year, an increase of 16 percent from 2023 and 35 percent from 2022.

A lack of hope in the world takes a toll on professional engagement. Workers are now more prone to questioning the value of work and whether it’s worth the effort. Hopelessness also makes it hard to imagine an optimistic future. If organizations want to develop an innovative, forward-thinking, and optimistic future, a hopeless workforce will make that impossible. To counteract rising hopelessness, make hope part of daily operations.

To develop hope in the workplace:

• Facilitate sessions where teams create visual hope maps that outline their professional goals, the motivations behind them, and potential pathways to achieving them. The maps can serve as an ongoing reference, helping employees visualize progress, adjust strategies, and stay aligned with their aspirations.

• Assign pathway coaches (team members who support colleagues in identifying alternative ways to achieve their goals). The coaches provide personalized feedback, resources, or brainstorming support, enabling employees to feel empowered with options when obstacles arise.

• Introduce monthly microchallenges that build confidence and resilience. For example, small team challenges could focus on achieving specific, short-term goals or developing creative solutions to common obstacles, reinforcing the team’s sense of agency and adaptability.

Increase engagement by working with teams to co-create goals that mix personal and professional passions and career interests. Then, nurture the motivation by providing time to achieve the goals.

Shift from empathy to compassion

Empathy is when individuals listen, and compassion is when people commit to actions that match what they heard.

During the past few years, organizations have heard that an investment in employee well-being is necessary to retain and engage staff. Regardless, there is not an increase in programming that corresponds to demand. In interviews for my book, workers shared a sense of dissatisfaction with their current well-being programs. One woman executive told me, “Wellness days are great, but they also feel tone-deaf. What I really want is flexibility, less meetings, manageable workloads, and more work-life balance.”

Consider companies that implement well-being at a systems level, integrating mental health support directly into organizational structure and fostering sustainable care. Empathy in the following examples means listening to employee needs and acting on them, turning mental health initiatives into meaningful, trust-building actions.

Adobe provides confidential emotional support through its employee assistance program, where staff receive up to 10 free counseling sessions annually.

Intuit has taken proactive steps to support employee mental health by introducing anonymous feedback tools such as staff pulse surveys. The software company provides leaders with mental health training and encourages employees to discuss their well-being without fear.

To increase well-being and engagement through flexibility offerings, Salesforce has implemented a "Success From Anywhere" model, offering employees the choice to work from home, in the office, or in a hybrid setting. Ongoing internal pulse surveys show that flexibility has improved engagement and the policy has reduced attrition because staff appreciate the autonomy to manage their work-life balance.

To improve work-life balance, Kickstarter transitioned to a four-day workweek after a successful pilot program that showed employees could maintain productivity with a reduced schedule. The crowdfunding platform found that participating staff were more energized and creative and reported lower burnout levels.

Measure beyond engagement

While engagement metrics are valuable, relying on them exclusively puts businesses at risk of a false sense of security. Highly engaged employees who are simultaneously battling extraordinary burnout are a common occurrence. Individuals who are deeply committed to their work and driven by a strong sense of purpose or passion can still end up pushing themselves to the point of exhaustion.

Measure burnout alongside engagement to see whether high engagement is coming at a personal cost. Indicators such as emotional exhaustion, physical fatigue, and mental overload reveal whether employees are balancing meaningful work with well-being. Healthy engagement is sustainable engagement. Ensuring that staff don’t sacrifice their mental health or personal lives creates a culture where they can truly thrive.

Involve managers and teams

When managers are engaged at work, nonmanagers are more likely to display engagement. Gallup has found that managers contribute to 70 percent of the variance in team engagement. A highly engaged manager led to a 78 percent reduction in absenteeism, an 18 percent rise in sales, a 23 percent growth in profitability, and a 70 percent well-being increase.

A variety of data-backed strategies will support managers in a way that genuinely restores their energy and engagement.

• Enable managers to shadow a leader for a few months to gain insight into balancing strategic and team-focused responsibilities. When leaders model healthy work practices, managers are more likely to replicate those behaviors.

• To reduce overwhelm, implement microcoaching sessions for managers that focus on navigating everyday challenges such as delivering constructive feedback or managing team conflict.

• Ensure managers have specific times each week where they don’t need to respond to emails or messages. Salesforce, for example, has implemented Focus Fridays during which teams can work without interruptions to support strategic thinking and recovery.

• Increase cognitive empathy skills by asking managers to spend a day shadowing individual team members. Managers can witness firsthand what employees experience and follow up with relevant supports.

• Introduce monthly “human moments” debriefs for managers, where they can discuss emotionally challenging situations with a coach or in a group setting. Led by mental health professionals, the sessions encourage managers to reflect on difficult conversations and consider how they could bring more empathy and compassion to their responses.

Connection is critical

To re-engage a languishing workforce, the answer lies in fostering real purpose and sustainable well-being. The issue isn’t just about paychecks or perks; it’s about creating cultures where people feel genuinely connected to their work and where companies value them for their unique contributions.

Talent development leaders can nurture hope by empowering managers to make the right decisions for their teams. Developing cognitive hope is nuanced and highly personalized. Managers need to actively listen and then react with compassion by weaving individual values into everyday tasks, balancing engagement with well-being, and ensuring that people aren’t sacrificing their mental health for productivity.

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