Employee Engagement is Not a Soft Perk. It’s a Performance Strategy, and Leadership Needs to Drive

Business leaders are transitioning engagement from HR to team managers

In the modern workplace, team-building programs that emphasize a sense of belonging are often still misunderstood as a “nice to have” perk like free snacks or casual Fridays. That thinking is outdated and dangerous. Employee engagement is not a luxury, it’s a strategic business imperative. It drives productivity and innovation, boosts retention and improves an organization’s outcomes across the board.

Without authentic and intentional leadership, engagement initiatives become hollow gestures. However, many executives and managers overlook the fact that they can affordably move daily employee engagement from concept to reality. With a strong commitment from leadership, engagement becomes a powerful driving force behind culture, performance and profitability.

Why are so many corporate resources tilted towards process versus building employees’ emotional bonds and commitment to their organization as well as each other? Engaged employees don’t just work for a paycheck, they work with purpose. They go above and beyond, not because it’s a requirement, but because they want to. According to Gallup, businesses with highly engaged employees are 21% more productive, and employers can experience a significant reduction in turnover with more engaged staff. These aren't fringe benefits. These are core factors directly tied to business outcomes. Engagement is not a soft metric; it’s a hard driver of an organization’s performance against competitors.

Transitioning employee engagement from being a siloed HR function to being a day-to-day priority and responsibility of frontline managers is the driver for success. Businesses and leaders who treat engagement as a core business priority transform performance and results from the inside out.

Here’s what executive leadership must do:

• Make engagement a measurable business objective, not just a survey item. Link engagement to outcomes like retention, customer satisfaction, and revenue per employee.

• Hold department leaders accountable for creating healthy team cultures.

• Invest in leadership development - not just technical training, but coaching, connection, empathy and emotional intelligence.

• Champion belonging, especially in hybrid or dispersed workforces, where connection can fade fast.

• Commit to team-building activities on a weekly basis so they become a habit.

• Provide managers with the technology tools to connect with employees where they are.

In-person, hybrid and remote staff are all blending work and life throughout the workday. According to a recent VLTED survey, 56% of team members scroll social media throughout work. It’s critical to meet them where they are and connect with them via mobile apps that they can access on their personal phones.

It’s widely recognized that managers have the most influence on an employee’s sense of belonging. When a manager underperforms in creating an engaging environment, the turnover rate can be alarming. VLTED found that employees cited a lack of common ground and shared interests as the biggest barrier to feeling connected to people at work. Employees don’t quit companies, they quit managers because they want leaders who connect, inspire, empower, listen, and have an ability to make them feel they belong.

In the end, engagement is not an initiative. It’s an operating system. It impacts everything — retention, innovation, customer satisfaction, and profitability. But it doesn’t run itself. It runs on leadership at all levels.

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Paul Staubi is a seasoned entrepreneur in the health insurance and benefits industry. In 1999 he founded Employee Benefit Solutions Inc. (EBS), a provider of healthcare programs for small and mid-sized employers. EBS is best known for its primary product, the Difference Card, an employer-funded debit card program for reimbursement of approved out-of-pocket employee healthcare expenses. He is also Executive Partner at Payroll Mart, a provider of benefits, payroll, hiring and compliance for SMBs. He recently founded VLTED, a first-of-its kind employee engagement platform with unique tools to gamify engagement in workplaces of all sizes. Alternative headline: Employee Engagement is Not a Soft Perk. It’s an Operating System, and Leadership Needs to Run the Program