20 alarming stats on employee engagement and retention (and 5 to-dos to beat the odds)

• In the US, in 2022, only 32% of full- and part-time employees working for organizations are engaged¹
• Globally, the number plummets to 21%¹
• Low engagement teams are 14% to 18% less productive²

Flexible working is crucial for employee retention 

• 74% of employees would like to work remotely at least 2 days per week ⁴
• Employees who work exclusively remote or hybrid tend to have higher levels of engagement - 37% for both groups¹
• In the US, 39% of workers consider quitting if their employers proved to be inflexible regarding remote work.
• The number reached 49% for millennials and Gen Z ⁶In the UK, 52% of workers would rather quit their jobs than be forced to go back to the office full time ⁷

So is flexible learning and development 

• 94% of employees say they would stay at a company longer if it invested in their learning and development⁸
• Learning and training in the workplace are important to 87% of millennials¹⁰
• 71% of employees agree that lifelong learning needs to be delivered flexibly if they are to engage in it⁹

And working in a socially-responsible company  

• 64% consider an organization’s social and environmental commitments when deciding where to work¹¹
• 83% would be more loyal to an organization that helps them tackle these issues¹¹
• 77% of Gen Z find it important to work in an organization that cares about diversity, equity and inclusion. ¹²

What can you do to keep employees engaged and prevent a brain drain? 
 

1. Create a flexible but effective hybrid working environment 

In the hybrid world of work, a company's headquarters will change its purpose, focusing on collaboration rather than individual work by engaging onsite and remote workers simultaneously. So create an employee experience on the work floor that they will enjoy. Your to dos can include:  

• Consulting with employees to find the hybrid work sweet spot before making drastic changes 
• Redesigning the work floor to reduce open spaces  
• Setting up more rooms and spaces for collaboration 
• Equipping them with technology supporting hybrid meetings, training and events: purpose-built software and complementary hardware (cameras, microphones, whiteboards, etc.).  
• Organizing training sessions or company-wide meetings with both remote and onsite participants in mind, for an equitable experience 
  
  

2. Work on your training strategy 

Professional development is vital to retaining employees and ensuring a bright future for your company. Invest in employees´ development, based on your organization´s needs as well as their preferences. 

There are numerous tech-enabled options perfect for the hybrid workplace; for live instructor-led training, make sure you invest in powerful and flexible technology that will enable successful learning regardless of trainees´ location - onsite, virtually or in hybrid mode. How to make the best of them? 

• Lead interactive sessions - by using polls and quizzes - and collaborative - by using breakout rooms for teamwork and in-depth discussions 
• Make training material available on-demand and mobile-accessible 
• Record live sessions and make bite-sized videos and repurpose slides into summaries and check lists. 
• For a complete learning environment, give access to learning platforms such as LinkedIn Learning, Udemy or Coursera. 
  
  

3. Communicate about purpose 

Everyone wants their job to make a difference in the world. Finding one´s job fulfilling improves morale and increases employee satisfaction, drives engagement and retention. What you can do: 

• Remind employees regularly of the mission, values and impact of the organization, and how they contribute to it 
• Have a strategy for improving sustainability, diversity, equity and inclusion in the company and how they can get involved and contribute 
• Lead CSR initiatives and campaigns to support and give to the community around your organization.

4. Recognize employees 

Making employees feel valued for their high performance is crucial. Retain top talent by instilling a sense of pride in both individual and team contributions and by regularly recognizing it. Here´s what you can do:   

• Put people in the spotlight during (virtual or hybrid) all-company meetings or internal events 
• Add incentives to recognition moments: financial compensation, in-kind rewards such as corporate gifts, badges and certificates or shout-outs on internal communication channels or in campaigns. 
• Tell managers to include spontaneous recognition moments during 121s or small team meetings 
  
  

5. Ensure well-being  

Healthy, well-rested and energized employees are the key to ensuring your business will make the positive impact you desire and achieve set objectives. How to ensure well-being? 

• Allow for work-life balance and offer the possibility and tech equipment for productive flexible work.  
• Check up regularly with employees to ensure they can manage their stress levels and workload 
• Drive supporting initiatives: a regular newsletter with tips and tricks encouraging a healthy lifestyle, occasional workshops or employee benefits, in the form of gym memberships or wellness vouchers. 

Train, engage and retain with Barco  

Training, engaging and motivating employees is crucial for your organization's future and Barco weConnect is a solution that will help you achieve all three.  

Our technology will bring together your global workforces – flexibly and sustainably – in a first-class virtual or hybrid experience, whether that is a training session, a workshop or a town hall meeting. 

It will help you engage your participants and immerse them into an experience that gives everyone a front row seat, thanks to the multiple content streams and views available. 

Lastly, it will enable in-depth collaboration and forge meaningful connections in a measurable way as well as create quality interaction through polls, quizzes, live chat, whiteboards and breakout rooms.