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Employee engagement has been the buzzword in HR departments and boardrooms worldwide for over two decades. The idea is simple: if we can get employees to feel more engaged at work, they’ll be more productive, more loyal, and more satisfied. Though excellent in theory, we’re no further than we started.
If Peter Drucker were still with us, he might ask whether employee engagement has become a “zombie management” practice—one of those well-intentioned but ultimately counterproductive ideas that should be dead by now yet somehow keeps springing back to life. Like a classic horror movie villain, the concept of engagement refuses to stay in the grave, even though it’s been haunting us for over 20 years without much success to show for it.
According to Gallup’s State of the Global Workforce Report, a staggering 60% of people are emotionally detached at work, and another 20% are outright miserable. These numbers have barely budged in the last two decades. In addition, U.S. employee engagement scores have remained stagnant since Gallup first started tracking them in 2000. Most countries have similar data.
In fact, according to Gallup, the percentage of engaged employees globally stands at 23%. The needle has barely moved over the years despite countless initiatives and billions of dollars spent trying to boost these metrics.
Why Employee Engagement Isn’t Enough
While well-meaning, the concept of employee engagement oversimplifies the complexity of the human experience. Engagement initiatives often reduce employees to a single metric, ignoring the many factors that influence how they show up at work. The truth is that engagement is just one piece of a much larger puzzle.
People are not static. They go through different work-life phases or stages—what I call “seasons”—that affect their performance and overall well-being.
Sometimes, they’re blooming; other times, they are struggling and in need of a renewal. On occasion, they may be budding or feel stunted. These personas related to the concept of seasons are often due to circumstances inside and outside of work that traditional engagement metrics simply don’t capture.
The Stagnation of Engagement
So why have engagement scores remained stagnant for so long?
One reason is that engagement initiatives often focus on surface-level solutions—perks like free lunches, wellness programs, or flexible hours—without addressing deeper issues. These perks can create short-term boosts in morale, but they don’t fundamentally change how employees feel about their work or lives.
Another reason is that leaders often assume team members can leave their personal issues behind at the office door. Leaders need to recognise that, just like them, their employees bring their personal goals, and issues to work.
Recent research from McKinsey & Company found that despite efforts to improve engagement, many organizations still fail to address the root causes of employee dissatisfaction. The report highlights that while companies are quick to offer new benefits or adjust working conditions, they often overlook the importance of purpose, trust, and meaningful work—key factors that drive long-term employee satisfaction and productivity.
Even if we continue to focus on employee engagement scores, it is unlikely that people in these predicaments will improve without addressing these core issues.
Moving Beyond Engagement
We need to change our perspective on employees so that we see them as dynamic individuals who experience ups and downs, much like the changing seasons.
Sometimes, they’re blooming, and other times, they’re not. And that is perfectly fine. Factors beyond the workplace often influence these phases.
This more nuanced understanding recognizes that an employee’s level of involvement and productivity will fluctuate. Life events, personal growth, and even day-to-day stresses can all impact how someone shows up at work.
By acknowledging these phases and the resulting personas, leaders can create environments that support employees through their natural cycles rather than forcing them into a binary engaged/disengaged model.
What Leaders Can Do
If we’re going to break free from the concept of employee engagement—and the zombie management practice that it fuels—leaders need to start by understanding the broader context of their employees’ lives. Drawing from my most recent book, Work-Life Bloom, here are practical steps leaders can take:
- Trust as a Foundation: Trust is a critical work factor that influences whether employees feel valued and respected.Leaders must cultivate trust by being transparent, reliable, and supportive. It helps employees feel secure in their roles and confident in their contributions, even during difficult times at work or home.
- Purpose and Meaning: Employees are likelier to flourish when they see a clear purpose in their work. Leaders should help connect the dots between daily tasks and the organization’s larger mission. This connection fosters a sense of meaning that can sustain employees through the ups and downs of their professional and personal lives.
- Flexibility and Support: Recognize that employees go through different life phases and provide the flexibility they need to navigate these changes. Whether it’s adjusting workloads during a personal crisis or offering opportunities for growth during a period of renewal, flexibility shows that you understand and care about the whole person, not just their work output.
- Creating a Sense of Belonging: Belonging is another critical factor that impacts employee well-being. Leaders should focus on building inclusive environments where employees feel connected to their colleagues and the organization. This sense of belonging can help employees stay connected, even when external forces pull them in different directions.
Embracing the Complexity of Work and Life
It’s time to admit that the traditional concept of employee engagement is not enough. People are complex, and their relationship with work is shaped by a multitude of factors that ebb and flow over time.
Our job as leaders is not to chase engagement scores but to support our teams through their various phases, understanding that their needs and motivations will change just as the seasons do.
By moving beyond the outdated focus on engagement and embracing a more holistic view of the simpatico relationship between work and life, we can finally start making real progress—not just in how our team members feel about their work but also in how they live their lives. Down with the employee engagement zombies!
About the author:
Dan Pontefract is the award-winning author of Work-Life Bloom: How to Nurture a Team That Flourishes, a Thinkers50 Top New Management Book for 2024