4 tips to increase employee engagement in 2023

Few anticipated the long-term impact of COVID-19 on employee satisfaction. It certainly triggered the Great Quit, which is still going strong, with an estimated 4.06 million American workers quitting their jobs in September 2022. It's also partly responsible for the new, more problematic phenomenon called "silent quitting." At a minimum, Gallup estimates that 50% of the American workforce could fall into this category, doing only what is required of them. So, as companies build their strategic plans for 2023, a key focus will inevitably be improving employee engagement.

Employee engagement is staggeringly low, at just 21%, according to Gallup's latest State of the Global Workplace report. Worse still are the number of workers who report being emotionally detached (60%) or even miserable (19%) at work. Companies have responded in kind, offering signing bonuses, more attractive benefits, flexible work arrangements, and mental health and wellness benefits to attract new talent and retain existing employees. Here's the thing, though: if every other company is using the exact same tactic, it doesn't do anything to help you stand out from the crowd. Your employee engagement strategies need to go deeper than that.

That doesn't mean people don't want higher salaries. About half of workers who changed jobs between April 2021 and March 2022 received wage increases of almost 10%. Nor is it to say that people don't want more flexibility in the workplace. Three-quarters of workers want their company to make flexible working arrangements permanent. However, you must remember that employees are human beings with different needs. A one-size-fits-all approach to engagement no longer works, and it requires some customization to ensure your employees stay engaged and excited as 2023 approaches.

Looking to the future with engagement

Improving employee engagement is no small feat. To be effective, engagement tactics must make sense for both the business and the workforce. Now is not the time to try to return to the pre-pandemic days, and as cliché as it sounds, you are operating under a new normal. A new normal requires a new approach to employee engagement, and the following advice from top business leaders might just spark some ideas:

1. Keep Your Cultural Promises: Maura Kautsky, President of Sales Xceleration

Finding the right talent who wants the job and has the skills to get the job done has been a challenge for years, and that's not even taking into account the turnover of new hires. Roughly