Employee Actions To Improve Engagement: The Top 20

Employee Engagement Demands Full Organizational Commitment
Driving meaningful employee engagement is not the responsibility of a single department or leader — it requires a concerted, organization-wide effort. Engagement thrives when everyone — from executives to frontline employees — understands their role in creating a motivated, committed workforce. Organizations that want to see real change often focus on the top employee actions to improve engagement, ensuring individual contributions align with broader organizational goals.

A Holistic Approach Is Essential
Successful engagement strategies consider the full ecosystem of factors that drive advocacy, discretionary effort, and loyalty. This includes meaningful recognition, transparent communication, opportunities for development, and a healthy culture that consistently models the behaviors it seeks to encourage. Only by addressing engagement from multiple angles — strategic, operational, and cultural — can organizations create a workplace where employees feel valued, connected, and inspired to give their best.

Too often, companies assign the burden of engagement to Human Resources, a senior executive, or even just frontline managers. This fragmented approach misses the mark. True engagement cannot be siloed — it requires an integrated effort where leadership, management, HR, and employees each play a distinct yet interconnected role.

• The Organization
  To design a healthy and high performance culture that sets the foundation for an engaged workforce
• The Leaders
  To model, reinforce, and coach to the behaviors that support engagement and performance
• The Employees
  To take the employee engagement action steps required to increase engagement and retention

The Role of Employees Is Too Often Undervalued
Much of the discussion around employee engagement focuses on what organizations and leaders must do — but it’s time to recognize that employees themselves carry a significant share of responsibility. Take performance management, for example: the process is far more effective when employees actively help define performance standards and fully buy into them.  Ownership transforms a routine exercise into a meaningful commitment.

The same principle applies to engagement. When employees feel a sense of ownership over the engagement process, they are far more likely to participate proactively, contribute ideas, and take initiative. Engagement is not something done to employees — it is something employees co-create. True commitment emerges when individuals recognize their influence in shaping the culture and outcomes they care about most.

Twenty Things Employees Can Do to Improve Engagement
Employees are not just participants — they are essential drivers of engagement. Taking ownership and responsibility for your own experience at work is a powerful way to influence both your satisfaction and your organization’s success. Here are twenty practical actions employees can take to strengthen their engagement and make a meaningful impact:

1. Look for new projects or stretch assignments that use skills sets or teams that are new and different
2. Be clear about career goals and aspirations
3. Seek out the information and resources required to produce high quality work
4. Understand the company’s future plans for success and how you fit in
5. Reflect a positive attitude about work — even during tough times
6. Help co-workers when they have a heavy workload
7. Treat those around you with dignity and respect
8. Maintain a healthy work-life balance
9. Ensure goals, accountabilities, roles, and responsibilities are clear to everyone around you
10. Recommend your company as a great place to work to high performers
11. Play to your strengths
12. Always follow up on action plans
13. Carve out time to learn and grow
14. Do not let conflict fester
15. Ask for and give frequent and constructive feedback
16. Look for ways to improve products, processes, and services
17. Think about the value of the work you do
18. Explain the reasons behind the decisions you make
19. Go the extra mile whenever you can
20. Acknowledge a job well done

The Bottom Line
Employee engagement thrives when every part of the organization plays a role. Success requires a coordinated effort — leaders, managers, HR, and employees must all be aligned and actively contributing. When everyone is fully engaged, the organization creates a culture where commitment, initiative, and discretionary effort naturally flourish.

To learn more about employee actions to improve engagement, download The Top Employee Engagement Mistakes: Are You Aimlessly Engaging Your Employees?