Ask a Futurist: Employee engagement in a rapidly changing world of work

We all have questions about what’s next in the fast-changing world of work. By examining current trends and market signals, a workforce futurist can give you valuable insights.

Enter our Ask a Futurist series, where workforce futurist Alexandra Levit will answer pressing questions crowdsourced from Dayforce social media polls.

Let’s dive into this edition’s question and Alex’s answer.   

With the world of work continuing to rapidly evolve, what are the biggest factors in keeping employees engaged? 

You probably don’t need a workforce futurist for this one because what I’m about to suggest is not revolutionary. 

It’s actually very simple, and for some reason, we still don’t do it.  

We have to listen to our employees and act on what they tell us.  

Considering today’s HR technology systems allow continuous feedback monitoring and daily sentiment surveying, there’s really no excuse for being out of touch.  

And yet we see record levels of disengagement among global employees. Executives’ call for knowledge workers to return to the office five days a week, when employees are clearly saying they don’t want this, is one glaring example of our collective failure to listen. Another example pertains to the trend of cutting health and wellness benefits when most employees are struggling with some combination of burnout, depression, anxiety, and financial stress. 

Leaders who truly want to engage employees will take any opportunity to hear from them, and this means having face time with specific groups in different locations and making it clear that feedback provided through technology channels will be taken seriously and followed up on. 

Clear communication around the use of AI-based technologies is also essential to engagement. The 16th Annual Pulse of Talent research from Dayforce showed that less than 30% of employees have access to a documented AI policy, and only 17% can take advantage of a reskilling programme. Leaders have high expectations that AI will improve worker productivity, but without providing the proper infrastructure, their employees feel forced to use yet another technology tool that doesn’t help them get work done, leading to further burnout and disengagement. 

Sustained engagement has always been tricky, but at a time when technology allows us to put even more distance between leaders and employees, we need to co-create and not just dictate what our organisations look like, how they operate, and what they stand for.