What is Good Employee Engagement

Effective employee engagement refers to a workplace where employees feel deeply connected, motivated, and committed to their jobs and the organization. In these organizations, employees don't just show up for work but also invest their emotions and energies, resulting in a positive and productive work environment.

To achieve this, organizations have to implement meaningful actions that align with their strategies to motivate their staff.

What does this look like? Who’s doing what?

*Real-Life Examples of Outstanding Employee Engagement Activities, Ideas, and Initiatives

Good Employee Engagement Characteristics and Meaningful Actions to Get There:

Dedication and Loyalty:

Meaningful Actions to Improve Employee Loyalty:

• Southwest Airlines provides all their employees and employee families with free, unlimited travel.
• Kaiser Permanente is a healthcare organization recognized for being a military-friendly employer.
• Nvidia Software has powerful parent-friendly policies. Generous, full-paid parental leave. Reimbursement for adoption and surrogacy expenses, IVF, and egg-freezing expenses, college savings plans, and more.

Emotional Connection:

Meaningful Actions Increase Your Workforce's Emotional Connection:

• Google has embraced belongingness as a make meetings matter.
• Zappos includes in its core values, “Build Open and Honest Relationships with Communication.” They “reveal more than they conceal”, making transparency a priority.

Opportunities for Growth:

Meaningful Actions that Support Employee Development:

• Adobe offers its employees support for education, including reimbursing them for educational material and coursework.
• Palo Alto Networks, a cybersecurity company, provide employees with access to funds for tuition reimbursement, conferences, and other learning opportunities.

Recognition and Appreciation:

Meaningful Recognition and Appreciation Actions:

• HP Inc. provides employees with a Good Card, worth $50.00, for employees who clock over 10 hours of volunteer time during the quarter.
• SalesForce has badges and honors on Slack, so peers and leaders can shout out the merits of exceptional employee behavior. (We also advocate for hand-written notes from managers and peers.)
• Cisco demonstrates the importance of employee recognition. They put their money where their values are, designating 1% of payroll to recognition programs.
• Southwest Airlines Gratitude (SWAG) Points. Southwest has consistently been voted one of the best places to work for over a decade. They write, “Recognition is the cornerstone of our culture.” They make it easy to do on their platform where employees can send notes of gratitude, nominate peers for awards, earning gratitude points that can be redeemed as gift cards, used for experiences, and more.