Employee engagement surveys may be misleading—Ideas for better results

Ever wonder how much to rely on employee engagement surveys? Recent research finds that too often the surveys are misleading—and employers are no doubt suffering the consequences.

Importance of engagement

Employers always hope for highly engaged employees, but research from consulting and polling giant Gallup says that, as of the end of November 2024, just 30% of U.S. workers were engaged in their work and 18% were classified as actively disengaged.

Gallup defines employee engagement as employees’ involvement and enthusiasm in their work and their workplace. As a result of decades of research, Gallup has determined that engaged employees produce better business outcomes than other employees, which applies regardless of industry or company size and even in poor economic times.

As employers strive to improve engagement levels in their workforces, they often employ engagement surveys, but other research casts doubt on the reliability of the information gleaned.

The problem with surveys

In October 2024, HR analytics firm Visier surveyed 1,000 U.S.-based employees about engagement surveys and found that those surveys may be painting a rosier picture than they should.

Visier found that just 32% of workers strongly agree that their company’s engagement surveys accurately reflect employee satisfaction. Breaking down the results, 47% of those surveyed said they often or occasionally feel pressured to withhold feedback when filling out engagement surveys.