Is engagement a competitive edge or your biggest risk?

Employee engagement is no longer just a “nice to have” indicator of team morale. Today, it’s one of the strongest predictors of long-term organizational success.

Our latest report, Winning With Data: The Business Impact of Employee Feedback, confirms what high-performing companies have known all along: engagement isn’t a single metric. 

It’s built over time through several key drivers, including meaningfulness, personal development, and leadership. And for organisations that get it right, engagement has the potential to offer a huge competitive advantage.

What the data shows

When creating our most recent report, we analyzed feedback from over a thousand companies, and discovered some key findings within our data.

Feedback drives engagement

Our data shows that collecting employee feedback is associated with a 20.9% increase in employees proactively suggesting new ideas within the company. Teams that act on feedback see engagement levels rise, which then strengthens participation, trust, and advocacy.

Engagement boosts performance across the board

Engaged employees are more likely to take initiative, stay with their company longer, deliver better customer experiences, and show resilience during stressful times. These behavioural outcomes translate directly into stronger performance for individual teams and your company as a whole.

Leadership is the engagement multiplier

Leadership strongly influences engagement. According to our report, leadership has a 0.79 correlation with trust, 0.72 correlation with participation, and 0.60 correlation with job satisfaction. Managers who communicate openly, act with transparency, and support growth directly shape how engaged employees feel.

How to make engagement your competitive edge

So what can you do to start promoting employee engagement? Within our data we identified three drivers that consistently boost engagement: meaningfulness, personal development, and leadership. 

Here are three action points to help you get started.

1. Make work more meaningful. 

We found that employees who perceive their work as meaningful are more satisfied, committed, and engaged. 

The data confirms this: meaningfulness shows a 0.72 correlation with job satisfaction, 0.68 correlation with participation, and 0.65 correlation with trust. 

Actionable Advice: Connect daily tasks to company goals, celebrate meaningful contributions, and ensure clarity in roles and expectations.

2. Invest in personal development.

‍Supporting personal and professional growth isn’t optional benefit offering anymore — it’s key to consistently boosting your engagement rates. 

Personal development correlates with 0.80 with job satisfaction, 0.76 with participation, 0.75 with ambassadorship, and 0.71 with commitment. Employees who feel they’re learning and developing are more likely to stay, advocate for the company, and contribute proactively. 

Actionable Advice: Offer continuous learning opportunities, encourage managers to act as coaches, and align employees’ strengths with meaningful roles.

3. Strengthen leadership.  

Leadership sets the tone for engagement, and teams with strong leadership see higher trust, participation, and satisfaction. 

Real-world examples from the report confirm this: at HSB Norr, Lena Silver improved her team’s Leadership score by +81%, Job Satisfaction by +66%, and reduced staff turnover from 30% to 0%, and at Fellowmind, eNPS rose from 20 to 73 and turnover fell from 18% to 11% after leadership became a strategic focus. 

Actionable Advice: Encourage leaders to communicate transparently and regularly, build trust through consistency and follow-through, and support employee growth and participation.

Get the full insights

No matter your listening strategy, engagement has the power to create a significant advantage within your business and across the market. 

Just look at the data: organizations that focus on meaningful work, personal development, and strong leadership see engagement rise,  which in turn strengthens participation, trust, and advocacy.

If you’re ready to explore all the evidence and learnings from thousands of surveys and years of research — including detailed examples, correlations, and actionable strategies — download the full report: https://www.winningtemp.com/guides/winning-with-data-the-business-impact-of-employee-feedback