Employee Engagement: What it Means for Occupational Health and Workplace Safety and How it Can be Measured 

The National Safety Council’s theme for National Safety Month this week is employee engagement. Studies show that the way employees feel about their job has a measurable impact on supervisor-employee relationships, occupational health and workplace safety program performance, and regulatory compliance. 

Employees with high levels of engagement are less likely to have accidents and injuries than those who feel less engaged, and they tend to have more trust in their employer, providing a foundation for business success.

You may have heard the story about a janitor at NASA who told President John F. Kennedy during a site visit that his job was to “help put a man on the moon.” It’s a quintessential example of employee engagement, which relates more to attitude and less to an employee’s position in the organizational hierarchy.  

Engagement is a word used to describe the degree of commitment and emotional connection employees have with their work. A genuine sense of engagement is not just about a paycheck, benefits package, or flexible work schedule. It involves taking pride in being part of an organization that provides a valued service or product, and where managers express appreciation for work well done. 

Engaged employees have identifiable behaviors, including: 

• Intense mental focus and absorption in tasks 
• A sense of purpose and accomplishment 
• Consistent effort to exceed expectations 
• Willingness to collaborate and recognize peer contributions 

How to Measure Employee Engagement  

Some aspects of engagement involve privately held thoughts, opinions, and emotions. Certain research methods can be used to put employees at ease while protecting their privacy. An employer may want to assess engagement by individual employees, workers identified by occupation or department, or across an enterprise.  

Surveys 

Online survey instruments are often used to measure employees’ perceptions. For example, on a scale ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree, they may be asked to rate: 

• Pride in the work being done and the company overall 
• Alignment with the employer’s mission, visions, and values 
• Confidence in leadership, business sustainability, and job security 
• Company’s commitment to occupational health and safety 
• Corporate, company, and local workplace culture 
• Opportunities for career growth and personal development 
• Resources provided to do the best possible job 
• Management support for work-personal life balance 

A survey may be conducted without revealing employees’ identities.   

Focus Groups  

Focus group sessions led by a trained facilitator from outside of the organization are used to explore employees’ attitudes in more depth. Group discussions help stimulate brainstorming and produce meaningful sharing among participants. If confidentiality is a concern, findings can be summarized by the facilitator or sessions can be recorded and transcribed without using names.   

Interviews 

One-on-one interviews may be conducted to obtain insights on underlying reasons for low and high engagement scores. Open-ended questions may be asked to supplement survey questions. The interview may occur during a routine supervisor-employee check-in or scheduled with an outside consultant. 

Metrics 

To establish patterns of engagement over time, employers may track metrics such as job applicant referrals from current employees; turnover, retention, and promotions; absences; net promoter scores, and the frequency of employee recognition activities. 

Surveys Show Mixed Employee Engagement Survey Results 

In its 2025 State of the Global Workplace report, Gallup found that employee engagement in work fell for the first time in 12 years to 21% between 2023 and 2024, with managers experiencing the sharpest decline. Global employee quality-of-life ratings fell 33% during the same period. According to Gallup: 

• Managers feel squeezed between executive priorities and employee expectations.  
• Employees want more autonomy and flexibility while employers want to gain more control. 
• Workplaces are still recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, with effects such as higher rates of turnover and layoffs, along with organizational changes. 
• Supply chain disruptions, the end of stimulus programs, and other resource constraints that have a direct impact on employees. 

Other studies show mixed results. For example, Culture Amp found in a 2024 global survey that pride in work and motivation scores have declined slightly, while commitment and willingness to recommend the company to others has remained steady since 2017. Confidence in leadership was identified as the leading driver of engagement; perceptions of leadership declined. In the healthcare sector, PressGaney found that engagement scores increased slightly after the COVID-19 pandemic, from 4.02 (out of 5) in 2022 to 4.04 in 2023. One-third of the healthcare workforce indicated it lacked engagement during the survey year. 

What Can Employers Do to Boost Employee Engagement? 

Efforts to engage employees typically do not require a major overhaul in operations or procedures. Instead, discrete steps can be consistently taken in response to employee input. 

Here are some recommendations for employers from human resources, occupational health, safety, and risk management professionals: 

1. Train managers to function as performance coaches to help improve alignment with company culture and employee expectations.  
2. Express appreciation for employees on a routine basis, from top to bottom in the organization. 
3. Communicate frequently about business goals, successes, and challenges in team huddles, one-on-one and all-hands meetings, and across internal communication channels. 
4. Offer opportunities for professional growth, for example, specialized training, mentoring, job-shadowing, tuition assistance, and clearly defined pathways for promotion. 
5. Create forums for employees to share their ideas when addressing workplace health and safety challenges; empower teams to take ownership of projects. 
6. Invest in programs to support employees’ physical and mental health and overall personal well-being. 

At WorkCare, we focus on areas where improvements can be made to increase employees’ confidence in their employer’s commitment to protecting employee health. Our services include ergonomic assessments and workstation adjustments, musculoskeletal injury prevention, on-site first aid and telehealth triage for non-emergency medical conditions, medical exams, and education to help employees take better care of themselves. 

Final Thought 

When trust is established, engagement scores increase. Soliciting employee input is just one step in the process. After sharing their thoughts, employees want to see evidence of changes that improve the quality of their experience at work and their personal lives. Let WorkCare introduce you to our comprehensive occupational health, wellness, and absence management solutions and the innovative ways we can help you build trust.  

Looking for More? 

Here are some related WorkCare resources: 

• White Paper: From Safety to Wellness®: A Strategic Shift for Workforce Health and Organizational Resilience – Learn how integrated workforce strategies for occupational health, workplace safety, and employee wellness can help foster employee engagement, reduce injuries, improve productivity, and deliver results. 
• Webinar: Revolutionizing Workplace Wellness: A Proven Approach to Injury Prevention – This presentation features findings from an on-site program that encourages employee engagement in their own safety, health, and well-being by encouraging prompt reporting of physical discomfort. 
• Blog: Closing the Workplace Safety Gap: What Employees Expect from Their Employers – Safety is a core expectation that goes far beyond compliance with government and industry standards providing immediate care guidance and facilitating a safe return to work during recovery.