How to elevate employee engagement

Employee and worker engagement is directly linked to productivity and retention rates. The higher the engagement, the greater the productivity of the employee and worker, while low interest can be linked to people issues that limit business efficiency. How – and why – do you elevate employee engagement?

Global Cost

A fall in global workplace engagement is estimated to be costing the global economy $438 billion in lost productivity, according to research findings published in April (2025) by Gallup.

Gallup’s annual global study found that the percentage of engaged employees fell from 23 percent in 2023 to 21 percent in 2024. The data for Europe revealed it has the lowest percentage of engaged employees at 13 percent, well below the global figure.

Closer to home, British employees are among the least engaged and most emotionally burdened in Europe. According to the Gallup data, just 10 per cent of UK workers feel engaged in their roles – placing the UK 30th out of 38 countries across Europe for employee engagement. The report also highlights growing emotional challenges among UK staff, with two fifths (41 per cent) of workers reporting workplace stress, 17 per cent admitting to experiencing frequent feelings of loneliness, and the same proportion to feeling anger during the day.

Links to productivity

Employee and worker engagement is directly linked to productivity and retention rates. The higher the engagement, the greater the productivity of the employee and worker. Low interest in work can be linked to several people issues that can limit business efficiency - from absenteeism and poor performance to employee burnout and wellbeing struggles.

Indeed research has found that the performance of engaged employees means they are 21 per cent more profitable for their employer, and that companies with high employee engagement experience a 59% lower turnover rate of staff, which can mean another cost and productivity saving from these good staff retention rates too.

Businesses are under pressure to reduce costs, increase efficiency and improve organisational outcomes, but alongside, their bottom-line is under growing pressure – not least because of the increases in National Insurance Contributions and employment allowance. In fact, just 14% of employers say they expect to offer pay rises above 4% in 2025.

For UK employees’ and workers’ outlook to improve, businesses must adjust their wellbeing and HR strategies. Arguably, the power of employee and worker benefits is set to come into its own this year, but the pressure is on to provide benefits that make a real impact. 

What are the best benefits?

More than ever before, it is vital that companies of all sizes take engagement seriously. Encouragingly around a third (31%) of HR and benefits professionals say they are looking to improve employee experience and engagement – research by Tusker found they say that this is in fact their top priority for 2025.

Whilst strategies and tactics to improve employee engagement include training leaders to be more empathetic, implementing CSR policies, consistent employee recognition, a strong Employee Value Proposition (EVP), training and development, and even embracing and embedding AI, giving them benefits that reflect and tackle the day-to-day challenges workers are facing could well represent an instant and more relevant solution.

For example, provide them with vital physical and mental health and wellbeing support, give them access to genuine financial savings on everyday essentials via supermarket and high street retailers, give them access to simple tools that help effective financial and budget planning, and access to real-time information on pay and pensions.

The benefits app from Magic Connect has all of this and more. In fact, everything employers need to boost engagement thanks to our game changing solution that brings everything together in one place. The app supports work life balance, physical and financial wellbeing, and personal professional development, with everything all in one app, which is a complementary add-on element of our expert partner payroll solutions. Find out more here