Why has HR failed to improve employee engagement?
Because employee engagement never should've been just HR’s job in the first place.
Tuesday, September 23, 2025
Employee engagement problems often fall on HR’s shoulders. That’s what Human Resources is for, right? To manage the humans at work, make sure they’re satisfied?
Wrong.
Truth be told, engagement efforts often end up siloed inside HR, treated like a compliance project or a quarterly survey initiative. These efforts can lose their power the moment they step outside those doors. Simply put, meaningful engagement isn’t an HR box to check. It’s a business priority. And this core value must be an inextricable part of the organization's strategy and supported by every leader, manager, and employee.
So, why does employee engagement fail?
Each organization’s problems are unique to that organization. That said, after working with organizations for over 25 years now, we recognize common causes for why employee engagement fails – and none of them have much to do with HR not trying hard enough.It’s treated like an HR thing
When engagement is seen as HR’s “job,” it’s easy for other leaders to assume it’s covered. Senior leaders glance at the annual survey results, maybe throw together a workshop or two, and check the box. But nothing really changes. And employees notice.No real follow-through from leadership
Without clear buy-in from top leaders, engagement doesn’t become part of business strategy. When engagement isn’t integrated in the organization culture, including decision-making, it quickly loses relevance.Managers aren’t set up to succeed
Managers drive the majority of engagement outcomes. But most managers are undertrained, under pressure, and overwhelmed. They’re the ones employees look to for clarity and connection—and many are just trying to keep their heads above water.
"Managers drive the majority of engagement outcomes."
Work keeps changing faster than we can adapt
Between remote work, AI, shifting priorities, layoffs, and burnout, managers have been on the front lines of every workplace shift in the last five years. Managers have been leading their teams through uncertainty, and the strain is showing. Over the past few years, manager engagement has dropped, too, meaning even the folks responsible for engagement aren’t feeling it themselves.Recognition is rare or feels forced
One of the easiest ways to improve engagement is to genuinely recognize people, but that’s often skipped. Or worse, it’s handled like a formality. A quick “great job” in a Slack message isn’t going to make someone feel valued. Recognition has to be authentic and meaningful, formal and informal, and part of the company culture.Employees don’t feel heard
Engagement surveys are only as useful as what happens after them. When employees give feedback and nothing changes—or worse, no one even follows up—they disengage fast. You can’t build trust without closing the loop.Broken telephone communication
If there is no transparent, strategic communication policy, things are going to get misheard, misconstrued, miscommunicated, and mishandled. Communication is a tenet of employee engagement.Okay, then, who is responsible for employee engagement?
Everyone. Really. Everyone.Engagement isn’t a task for one team to work on, instead, it is something that needs to be built into how the whole company operates. And it matters. This isn’t just about feelings at work—it’s about performance, retention, and your organization’s success.
The next blog we’ll discuss what needs to change to make employee engagement work, and not fail.
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