How To Improve Employee Engagement In The Digital Era

Despite all the research showing that employee engagement leads to improved business results, only 16% of employees experience the necessary conditions for engagement, such as “a clear sense of purpose, a commonly held notion of what’s valuable or important, feelings of psychological safety, and confidence about the future,” according to Marcus Buckingham and Ashley Goodall in Harvard Business Review.

Of course, better business results aren’t the only reason companies should focus on employee engagement. As Kevin Kruse points out in his book Employee Engagement 2.0, engagement makes people’s lives better, not just their work, creating transformative results.

Kruse’s handy phrase, “Great leaders Communicate GReAT” highlights the crucial factors of Communication, Growth, Recognition and Trust that underlie employee engagement. Using apps and other software tools can make it easier to support manager development at scale and make the changes that will engage more employees more quickly.

I had the opportunity to interview Jim Barnett, CEO of Glint, about how automated platforms can support good managerial practice in areas like psychological safety, recognition and trust. These comments have been edited for clarity and space.

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