Beyond The Perks: How Managers Can Improve Engagement
Myth: "If I pay them alright and throw in a few fun perks, my team will automatically be engaged."
Many managers still assume engagement is a luxury – a box for HR to check off.
Reality check: Employee engagement in the U.S. just sank to a 10-year low, with only 31% of employees engaged in 2024–meaning nearly seven in ten are "quiet quitting" (coasting.) Disengagement isn’t just a morale issue; it costs the U.S. about $1.9 trillion in lost productivity last year. Clearly, the old assumptions aren’t working.
How can you turn this around? Forget the gimmicks. Focus on how you lead every day.
Engagement starts with managers
Too many leaders think engagement is someone else’s job: “HR will handle it” or “we did a survey, we’re fine.” The truth is far more personal.
Gallup research shows 70% of the variance in a team’s engagement is directly tied to the manager. Simply put, managers have an outsized influence on whether their people are motivated or miserable.
Are your team members excited to log in on Monday, or secretly polishing their résumés?
The answer depends largely on you.
But this is actually good news. It means you have more control over the situation than you might think. By being an “engagement creator” instead of an “engagement destroyer,” (i.e., by adopting a growth mindset instead of an old-school boss attitude) you can flip the script. Treat people like cogs, and they disengage. Support them and clear obstacles in their path, and they’ll bring their A-game.
What truly drives engagement?
If engagement was as easy as company swag or pizza parties, we wouldn’t be here. People want to belong; their fundamental human needs need to be met at work.
Some key drivers include:
- Recognition and Appreciation: Everyone craves to be seen and valued. High-performing teams aren’t stingy with praise. Members of such teams report receiving 72% more frequent appreciation from colleagues and 79% more from managers. If you only speak up when you know something’s wrong, you’re missing the point. Make recognition a daily habit, not a sporadic event.
- A Sense of Purpose: Show employees how their work contributes to a larger mission. When someone feels their job has meaning, engagement soars.
- Growth Opportunities: Stagnation is the enemy of engagement. If people can’t see a path to learn and advance, they check out (or check LinkedIn). As one report highlighted, lack of career advancement is a top reason employees quit. Bring the change by actively developing your people. When folks feel like they’re learning and advancing, they lean in.
- Fairness and Trust: Nothing torpedoes engagement faster than the feeling that “this place isn’t fair.” Whether it’s biased promotions or broken promises, perceived unfairness quickly breeds disengagement. Be transparent and follow through on what you say. Even tough news delivered honestly beats silence. And be clear: a lack of clarity makes everything worse. Remember, psychological safety (knowing they won’t be punished for speaking up or making a mistake) is non-negotiable.
Quick wins to boost engagement
Engagement isn’t an abstract concept; it shows up (or doesn’t) in the small daily interactions on your team. Here are some manager moves you can implement starting today:
- Start every one-on-one with a question: “How are you really doing?” Don’t jump straight into projects; genuinely check in on your people first. Show them you value them as humans, not just workers. And keep those one-on-ones regular. Consistency builds trust.
- Catch someone doing something right—and say it: Make it a goal to send at least one genuine thank-you or shoutout each day. It could be a quick Slack message recognizing a win or extra effort. A little positivity can ripple outward, especially coming from you. (Bonus: employees who feel appreciated tend to stick around longer, too.)
- Ask for feedback (and act on it): Don’t just collect feedback—act on it. Show your team you’ve heard them by making changes (or at least explaining why you can’t). When people see their input leads to action, buy-in soars.
- Empower decision-making: Look for areas where you might be micromanaging and hand over the reins to your team. Trust them with autonomy in how they meet goals. Micromanagers create disengaged drones; empowering leaders create owners and problem-solvers.
Engagement is a continuous mindset. As a manager, you set the tone. Ditch the outdated idea that ping-pong tables means engagement, and embrace the real drivers.
When you focus on meaningful recognition, growth, trust, and everyday positive actions, you’ll see not only higher morale but tangible upticks in innovation and retention.
The bottom line: improving engagement is totally within your control as a manager, and it’s well worth the effort. In fact, you can’t afford not to. An engaged team doesn’t just work, it wins.
