As organisations, employees, leaders and managers continue to adapt to the evolving workplace cultures that are emerging in our post-Covid era, employee engagement is top of mind for many. This topic is explored in depth in the recently released book Culture Shock, by Dr Jim Harter, chief scientist, Workplace, for Gallup, and is based on research by the Gallup Organisation.

Many organisations are still exploring the optimal combination of in-office v remote work. According to Gallup research, more than half of US workers (56 per cent) have jobs that can be done remotely. But are those “remote-ready” employees more engaged when on-site or working from a remote location, or in a hybrid of the two? This is a critical question post-pandemic.

Gallup research during the aftershock of the pandemic found that remote-ready employees in collaborative jobs who work on-site two to three days per week are more engaged and have higher wellbeing.

The research also found that there is a factor that matters substantially more than the number of days in the office: 80 per cent of employees who say they have received meaningful feedback in the past week are fully engaged — regardless of how many days they worked in the office.

In fact, the boost from meaningful feedback gives four times the lift in engagement than having the “right number” of days in the office. The problem is, Gallup found in a recent study, that among nearly 15,000 employees, only 16 per cent said the last conversation with their manager was extremely meaningful.

What counts as meaningful?

Gallup researchers studied the most common characteristics of extremely meaningful and less meaningful conversations. These are the top five characteristics of meaningful conversations, in order of importance:

1, Recognition or appreciation for recent work

Gallup and Workhuman found that only 10 per cent of employees are asked how they like to be recognised and appreciated. And only 23 per cent of employees strongly agree that they get the right amount of recognition for the work they do. Those who do are four times more likely to be engaged.

2, Collaboration and relationships

In the hybrid workplace, collaboration and relationships are at risk. Gallup found that the correlations between co-worker relationships and intention to stay as well as likelihood to recommend the company were stronger in 2022 than before the pandemic. Managers play a key role in connecting the right team partners.

3, Current goals and priorities at work

Clarity of work expectations has been slipping, especially for younger workers. More remote work means weekly check-ins are essential as customer and business needs change.

4, The length of the conversation

Between 15 and 30 minutes is enough time for a meaningful conversation, but only if it happens frequently. In fact, 15 to 30-minute conversations have a greater impact than 30 to 60-minute conversations if they occur regularly. But if managers don’t give employees feedback every week, they will need longer conversations to catch up.

5, Employee strengths or the things they do well

Managers can have much more meaningful discussions about how each person gets their work done if those conversations are based on what they do best.

The takeaway is that feedback is meaningful to employees when their manager focuses on recognition, collaboration, goals and priorities and strengths. And if these conversations happen every week, they can be brief. Naturally, problems and challenges will arise — and managers and employees should discuss them — but to improve engagement, managers need to have conversations that inspire each individual.

The one conversation topic employees perceive as less meaningful is discussing their weaknesses or what they don’t do well. This might be because, in many conversations, employee weaknesses are all that managers discuss. Without the high-priority focus areas above, it’s extremely hard for managers to build trust and inspiration.

Supporting and encouraging managers and emerging leaders to initiate regular employee engagement and focused conversations are also important in establishing and maintaining positive team and organisational cultures. These regular check-ins provide opportunities to ensure alignment around shared values and purpose, while also identifying tangible ways in which these are “showing up” in the work and activities of employees and managers.

∙ For additional information please contact gayle@clarity.bm.