Employee engagement is more than just a buzzword— it’s a key driver of your organization’s success. Engaged employees are motivated, committed, and ready to go above and beyond in their roles. But fostering engagement requires more than perks and one-off initiatives; it’s about creating a culture where people feel connected to their work and empowered to make a meaningful impact. In this article, we'll walk through the basics of employee engagement and how to use 15Five as your system of action to measure and improve it.
In this article, you will learn...
- What is employee engagement? 🧑💻
- Why it's important 🌟
- How to measure employee engagement with 15Five 📊
- How to drive employee engagement with 15Five 🚀
- Additional resources 📝
What is employee engagement? 🧑💻
In today's work world, where company culture matters more to employees than salary, it's more important than ever to appeal to individuals’ deep-seated motivations— the drivers that make them want to work harder, perform better, and take the company further.
Here at 15Five, we define employee engagement as "the emotional commitment and passion that an employee has towards their work and employer, demonstrated by their willingness to expend discretionary effort to help the organization succeed."
To go a level deeper, we believe that employee engagement is impacted by a person's belief in their organization's goals and values. It is characterized by enthusiasm, dedication, and a willingness to invest effort in work activities.
Engaged employees are...
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Motivated to contribute to the organization’s success 📈
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Feel a sense of purpose and satisfaction in their work 🌟
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Often go above and beyond in their roles 🚀
Did you catch the part of the definition about “helping the organization succeed”? The more an employee is driven by passion and purpose, the more meaning they'll find at work and the more profound the bottom-line impacts will be for the business at large. High levels of engagement typically result in increased productivity, better performance, and lower turnover rates.
Furthermore, engagement is not equal to job satisfaction. Anyone can be satisfied with a job that meets their basic needs and still lack the inspiration and motivation needed to excel— and that’s a big deal. When employees are engaged, a subsequent path to value ensues. That’s a far cry from employees who are merely happy with their employers and satisfied with the work they do.
Check out the FAQs below to learn more:
There are 17 drivers that employee engagement research identifies as influencers or "levers" of engagement. These engagement drivers collectively contribute to creating a positive and engaging work environment that promotes employee satisfaction, productivity, and overall organizational success.
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Autonomy: The degree to which employees have the freedom and empowerment to make decisions and have control over their work processes and outcomes.
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Capacity: Ensuring that employees have the necessary resources, skills, and capabilities to perform their job effectively and efficiently.
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Coworker Relationships: The quality of relationships and interactions between employees, fostering collaboration, teamwork, and a positive work environment.
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Fairness: Ensuring fairness in areas such as compensation, promotions, workload distribution, and decision-making processes, builds trust and a sense of justice among employees.
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Feedback: Regular and constructive feedback is provided to employees regarding their performance, strengths, areas for improvement, and progress toward goals.
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Goal Support: The extent to which employees receive support, guidance, and resources from their leaders and colleagues in achieving their individual and team goals.
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Leader Availability: The accessibility and approachability of leaders to provide guidance, support, and address employee concerns or questions.
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Leader Integrity: The perceived honesty, ethical behavior, and consistency in actions demonstrated by leaders, contributes to trust and confidence in leadership.
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Manager: The effectiveness and competence of managers in providing guidance, support, and development opportunities to their direct reports.
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Meaning: The sense of purpose, significance, and value that employees derive from their work, understanding how their contributions align with the organization's mission and goals.
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Professional Development: The opportunities and support provided for employees to enhance their skills, knowledge, and career growth through training, learning programs, and challenging assignments.
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Psychological Safety: A supportive and inclusive work environment where employees feel safe to express their opinions, take risks, and share ideas without fear of negative consequences.
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Purpose: The clarity and alignment of employees' work with the broader purpose and mission of the organization, understanding the positive impact they make.
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Rest: Encouraging and supporting employees in taking breaks, vacations, and maintaining work-life balance to prevent burnout and promote well-being.
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Role Clarity: Clear understanding of job expectations, responsibilities, and how one's role contributes to the overall goals and success of the team or organization.
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Shared Values: The alignment of employees' personal values with the organization's values, fostering a sense of belonging, shared purpose, and cultural fit.
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Utilization: Employees' perception that their skills, knowledge, and expertise are effectively utilized and that their contributions are valued and utilized by the organization.
Low employee engagement can manifest in various ways. Some of the most common ones we see are listed below.
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High employee turnover: When employees are disengaged, they are more likely to leave the organization, resulting in a high turnover rate.
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Decreased productivity: Disengaged employees tend to be less motivated, which can lead to a decline in overall productivity and output.
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Increased absenteeism: Disengaged employees may frequently miss work or take more unplanned absences, indicating a lack of commitment or interest in their roles.
- Complaints about leadership or direction: Low employee engagement often leads to complaints about leadership or direction as disengaged employees perceive a lack of effective guidance, clear communication, and support from their leaders, resulting in frustration, confusion, and a breakdown of trust.
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Lack of initiative or innovation: Employees who are not engaged often show a lack of enthusiasm for suggesting new ideas or taking initiative to improve processes.
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Low morale: Disengaged employees may exhibit low morale, leading to a negative work atmosphere and reduced collaboration among team members.
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Poor communication: Disengagement can contribute to breakdowns in communication, resulting in misunderstandings, conflicts, or a lack of clarity regarding goals and expectations.
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Reduced customer satisfaction: When employees are disengaged, it can affect their interactions with customers, leading to lower levels of customer satisfaction and loyalty.
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Increased errors or quality issues: Lack of focus and motivation can result in more mistakes, quality control problems, or a decline in the quality of products or services.
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Lack of employee development: Disengaged employees may not actively seek growth opportunities or take advantage of training programs, which can hinder their professional development and overall performance.
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Negative impact on team dynamics: Poor employee engagement can create a negative ripple effect on team dynamics, with disengaged individuals potentially affecting the morale and performance of their colleagues.
On the surface, “job satisfaction” and “employee engagement” seem interchangeable. But a happy employee doesn’t always mean a healthy, engaged one.
In the past, this misunderstanding has led organizations to try and improve satisfaction by simply throwing money at the problem of disengaged workers with increased pay and perks. But when employee engagement is built on motivation and commitment, those things won’t do much to make people stay.
Think of it this way:
- Job satisfaction: You’re leaning back in your chair. Not unhappy, but not all that excited about your work either.
- Employee engagement: You’re leaning forward in your chair. You’re excited and motivated to do great work and move the business forward.
The graphic below illustrates key differences between job satisfaction and employee engagement. While satisfaction focuses on surface-level perks and short-term fixes, engagement digs deeper, addressing meaningful aspects that drive long-term motivation and performance.
In summary, job satisfaction can be driven by perks and comfort but may not lead to productivity or retention, whereas employee engagement taps into a sense of purpose, driving higher levels of commitment, performance, and organizational loyalty. For organizations, understanding this distinction is key to creating a thriving work environment where employees feel both satisfied and engaged, leading to better outcomes for everyone.
Why employee engagement is important 🌟
Employee engagement is a key driver of overall business success. According to Gallup, companies with highly engaged employees have 21% higher profitability. And disengagement can be extremely costly. In studies by the Queens School of Business and Gallup, disengaged workers had 37% higher absenteeism, 49% more accidents, and 60% more errors and defects.
Thus, it is crucial to actively monitor and address any potential disengagement. When you regularly measure and analyze employee engagement, you’re identifying issues before they have a chance to become full-blown problems, and you set the stage for an authentic culture built around collaboration and trust. This, in turn, makes people comfortable taking on initiatives that help move the business forward. Instead of shying away from big ideas and grand goals, engaged employees will embrace them and find satisfaction in achieving them.
How engagement relates to other outcomes
- Research shows that engaged employees are 17% more productive than their peers. Engaged employees are more likely to work diligently and expend discretionary effort in their jobs, supercharging productivity and innovation.
- Engaged employees are 44% more productive than “satisfied” employees.
- Jacob Morgan, the author of The Employee Experience Advantage, examined the financial data of hundreds of companies and found that those that invest in employee experience had more than 4 times the profits and 2 times the revenue.
- Gallup reports that companies with a highly engaged workforce have 21% higher profitability. They also have 17% higher productivity than companies with a disengaged workforce.
- Organizations with engaged employees outperform those without by an astounding 202%.
- Engaged employees are 87% less likely to leave their organization than disengaged employees.
- Teams who score in the top 20% of engagement have a 41% reduction in absenteeism and 59% less turnover.
- Highly engaged teams experience a 40% reduction in turnover on average.
- 15Five’s 2022 Workplace Report found that unsupportive management is the top reason employees leave companies.
- Research from Gallup found that managers account for at least 70% of the variance in employee engagement scores across business units, and only 35% of managers are engaged with their job.
- Zippia found that 43% of highly engaged employees receive feedback (a key responsibility of managers) at least once a week, and a staggering 98% of employees say they disengage from work when they receive little or no feedback.
Measure employee engagement with 15Five 📊
15Five allows you to measure employee engagement using our Engagement and Check-ins features. Leaders can easily view both of these measurements of engagement using 15Five's HR Outcomes Dashboard: a one-stop shop for measuring outcomes, gathering insights, and taking actions that connect your performance management programs to business outcomes. Let's dive into how it works.
Engagement
15Five's Engagement feature is a science-backed engagement solution that helps you turn engagement insights into engagement outcomes. By sending on a quick, 6-minute survey for your employees to complete, you'll gain insight into overall engagement level, areas of strength and opportunity, and driver insights, which show how your organization is performing in areas key to driving engagement.
Help Center article 💡: Quick-launch guide: Launch an engagement campaign
On the HR Outcomes Dashboard, leaders can view and analyze engagement results using the following reporting options:
The Engagement Scorecard on the HR Outcomes Dashboard shows The engagement score from your last engagement campaign.
Clicking 🔍 Explore latest campaign at the bottom of this Scorecard will take you to engagement results for your most recent engagement campaign. Learn how to analyze engagement results.
Clicking 🔍 Explore latest campaign at the bottom of the Engagement Scorecard will take you to engagement results for your most recent engagement campaign.
From this page, you can access five tabs to analyze engagement results: Summary, Engagement, Statements, eNPS, and Feedback.
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- The Summary tab provides an overview of results, including key metrics and AI recommendations for Action Plans you can launch to increase engagement.
- The Engagement tab digs deeper into key metrics, allowing you to view engagement distribution and changes over time.
- The Statements tab lets you see the distribution of how survey participants responded to survey statements. This tab also contains the Predictive Impact Model, which predicts exactly how much specific survey statements affect engagement.
- The eNPS tab shows you the breakdown of how employees answered the eNPS question ("On a scale from 0-10, how likely are you to recommend [Organization] as a great place to work?")
- The Feedback tab shows you all qualitative statements provided by survey participants.
Help Center article 💡: Analyze Engagement Campaign Results using the HR Outcomes Dashboard
This visualization shows the engagement level of employees within your organization.
- Y-axis (vertical): # of employees.
- X-axis (horizontal): Timeframe by quarter.
- Color key: Engagement level (based on results from engagement surveys).
This visualization shows the comparison of Performance Ratings and Engagement and is intended to display how engaged your top performers are.
- Y-axis (vertical): # of employees.
- X-axis (horizontal): Timeframe by quarter.
- Color key: Engagement level (based on results from engagement surveys).
Check-ins: Pulse
15Five's Check-ins feature is a powerful tool to facilitate highly effective conversations in your company. Utilizing Check-ins within your organization is an efficient way to support continuous growth, boost engagement, drive productivity, and motivate every team.
In each Check-in, employees answer the Pulse question: "How did you feel at work since your last Check-in?" The way that employees answer this question points to how engaged they're feeling with their work and can be used as a more regular checkpoint between engagement surveys.
Help Center article 💡: Check-ins: Pulse dashboard & reports
On the HR Outcomes Dashboard, leaders can view and analyze Pulse using the following reporting options:
This visualization shows the comparison of performance designation and Pulse score, and is intended to display how engaged your top performers are based on answers given to the Pulse question ("How did you feel at work this week?") in Check-ins.
- Y-axis (vertical): # of active employees.
- X-axis (horizontal): Timeframe by quarter.
- Color key: Pulse score given in the most recent Check-in.
This visualization shows how engaged your top performers are based on answers given to the Pulse question ("How did you feel at work this week?") in Check-ins.
- Y-axis (vertical): # of employees with a "top performer" designation, based on Performance Rating or answers given to a specific performance-related question provided in Best-Self Review® cycles.
- X-axis (horizontal): Timeframe by quarter.
- Color key: Pulse score given by top performers in the most recent Check-in.
Drive employee engagement with 15Five 🚀
15Five's features and offerings are strategically designed to help leaders drive employee performance, engagement, and retention. In this section, we'll walk through the tools you can use to drive employee engagement within your organization.
Note
Before we begin, it's important to note that the feature benefits listed below are not guaranteed. The benefits you get out of 15Five are correlated to how successfully a feature is rolled out, as well as the effort and buy-in of your team. With the right plan, your team can leverage the features below to drive change and help you reach your outcome.
Action Plans
Action Plans in 15Five are strategic plans that HR teams use to organize and measure the work you're doing to improve HR outcomes (employee performance, engagement, and/or retention) in your organization. They empower HR leaders with a way to more effectively design, execute, and measure strategies that drive tangible improvements.
How it works:
- Populate your HR Outcomes Dashboard with engagement data by holding an engagement campaign.
- Based on your organization's unique data mix, the dashboard will provide you with AI-generated insights to target areas for improvement.
- Create an Action Plan based on these insights and assign relevant actions to individuals with impact.
- Upon completion of the Action Plan, hold another engagement survey to see how your efforts moved the needle on employee engagement.
Overall, Action Plans enable HR Leaders to launch data-backed initiatives that have a tangible impact on the outcomes that matter most to your business and your people.
Features that drive engagement
Additionally, 15Five offers continuous performance management features that strengthen the ongoing manager-employee relationship essential to high engagement. The following features in 15Five are proven to have an impact on employee engagement:
15Five's High Fives feature allows individuals and teams to publicly celebrate wins, reinforce values, and create a culture of connection in just a few clicks. For businesses of all sizes, incorporating high fives into your daily operations can lead to increased morale, better team cohesion, and elevated overall performance.
How high fives impact engagement
When it comes to engagement, high fives can have a huge impact. Research shows that recognition is one of the top drivers of employee engagement and when employees believe they will be recognized, they are 2.7 times more likely to be highly engaged. And it's not a one-way street: high fives are shown to benefit both the receiver and the giver of recognition!
Note
You can assign the task of giving a high five to individuals as part of an Action Plan. Learn how to add actions to an Action Plan.
Additional resources
- Help Center article 💡: High Fives Feature Overview
- Help Center article 💡: Give a High Five
- eBook 📖: Engage to Excel: 15Five’s Employee Engagement Playbook
- Science 🔬: Employee Recognition: Low Cost, High Impact (Gallup)
- Science 🔬: What Are the Benefits of Employee Recognition? (workhuman)
15Five's 1-on-1s feature is designed to help you get the most out of your meetings. Using our guided structure, it’s easier to focus on priorities, challenges, and progress so everyone’s aligned, motivated, and engaged.
1-on-1s are weekly 30-45 minute conversations that are held between a manager and direct report. Effective 1-on-1s include relationship building, dialogue about goal progress and growth, feedback including appreciation and redirection, and agreements about who will do what by when.
How weekly 1-on-1s impact engagement
- Employees who seldom or never have one-on-one sessions with their managers are more likely to be disengaged. Conversely, those who engage in one-on-one meetings with their managers twice as often as their counterparts have a 67% reduced likelihood of being disengaged.
- Only 15% of employees who work for a manager who doesn't regularly meet with them are classified as engaged, whereas engagement levels in employees who meet regularly with their managers is almost tripled.
- Great conversations between managers and employees are correlated with higher engagement, but only about half of employees are having them.
- A series of studies conducted by Professor Steven G. Rogelberg show that weekly 1-on-1 meetings are correlated with the highest levels of employee engagement, whereas monthly 1-on-1s are associated with smaller gains in engagement.
- Regularly discussing goal progress, removing roadblocks, and celebrating wins impacts the "Goal Support" Engagement Driver.
Additional resources
- Help Center article 💡: 1-on-1s Feature Overview
- Help Center article 💡: Hold a 1-on-1 meeting
- eBook 📖: 15Five’s 1-on-1 Template
- Webinar 👨🏽💻: The Secret to Success for Manager Effectiveness (60 min)
15Five Check-ins replace status reports with quick employee feedback through a few questions, taking 15 minutes to fill and 5 minutes for managers to review.
Check-ins help keep people focused on what matters most by prompting them to regularly update priorities, share goal statuses, celebrate wins, and discuss challenges. They're also a great tool to help managers understand how to best support people and progress by enabling more frequent and continuous feedback and coaching.
Note
Check-ins and 1-on-1s should be used in combination on a weekly basis. Check-ins are often due on Fridays, with managers providing feedback on check-ins on Monday and having 1-on-1s on Tuesdays.
How Check-ins impact engagement
Research shows that continuous performance management makes employees more competitive and engaged, enhances leadership development, supports higher transformational change, and contributes to higher levels of organizational performance. Check-ins were designed with this in mind and contain the following sections:
- Pulse: In each Check-in, the Pulse question asks employees, “How did you feel at work this week?” on a 1-5 scale. This question is designed to gather real-time feedback on employee engagement, which enables leadership to keep a consistent pulse on how employees are feeling. When engagement is measured accurately, thoroughly, and consistently, you can see which qualities of your organization are hindering engagement and which ones are driving it. Research also shows that it's important to become aware of when we're happy at work so we can clearly identify the type of work that makes us feel great— which is usually work that builds on our strengths. Conversely, it's important to be aware of times employees are less happy and identify the work and/or roadblocks employees are facing.
- Objective Updates: Employees are asked to update their objective and key result progress in each Check-in. This practice is intended to keep employees connected to their long-term priorities and allow managers to support their team members. When goal support is not available, this can have an impact on achieving targets and morale and can contribute to feelings of burnout for employees.
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Priorities: The "Priorities" section of Check-ins allows employees to set and track their priorities over time, providing visibility into progress and helping managers to identify areas where they can provide support. Classic research shows again and again that setting goals is extremely effective at increasing motivation in organizations.
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Customizable questions: Organizations can add tailored individual, group, or company-wide questions to Check-ins to suit their unique needs and culture, ensuring that conversations are relevant and meaningful. Use questions to gain valuable information about your team and surface opportunities to support employee development— a main driver of engagement.
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Give a High Five: The "High Fives" section of Check-ins allows employees to provide instant peer recognition, improving team communication while boosting morale. Managers can also give high fives as they review their direct reports' Check-ins. Research shows that recognition is one of the top drivers of employee engagement.
Tip
Managers should review Check-ins prior to 1-on-1 meetings. When you review check-in responses, add items to your 1-on-1 agendas (remember you can add private items), comment, react, and give high fives.
Additional resources
- Help Center article 💡: Check-ins Feature Overview
- Help Center article 💡: Fill out a Check-in
- Help Center article 💡: Review a Check-in
- Customer case study 🔍: Rothys: Staying Aligned with a Sustainable Mission, One Check-in at a Time
- eBook 📖: The Great eBook of Employee Questions
The Best-Self Kickoff is a structured 1-on-1 between a manager and an employee that helps them understand each other and what to expect. Best-Self Kickoffs create connection, role clarity, and psychological safety and accelerate (or renew) relationships between managers and their people. They also help your managers understand what will help their people perform, engage, and stay with your organization.
Note
Best-Self Kickoffs should be completed by all manager-employee pairs, even ones that aren’t new.
Almost all managers and employees will find that they learn new things about themselves and each other.
How Best-Self Kickoffs help increase engagement
- By holding Best-Self Kickoffs, managers will better understand their direct reports so they can better communicate with, coach, and engage them. An employee's relationship with their manager relationships is a key driver of engagement.
- Participating in a Best-Self Kickoff leads to employees feeling seen, understood, and appreciated for who they are by their managers. This, in turn, can lead to increased job satisfaction, as well as increased engagement.
- The second part of the Best-Self Kickoff is focused on role clarity (job responsibilities and expectations), which helps cultivate psychological safety in the workplace.
Note
You can assign managers the task of holding Best-Self Kickoffs with their direct reports as part of an Action Plan. Learn how to add actions to an Action Plan.
Additional resources
- Help Center article 💡: Hold a Best-Self Kickoff
- Quick guide 📄: The Best-Self Kickoff Template
- Blog post 🕺: Take Employee Onboarding To The Next Level With The Best-Self Kickoff
- Blog post 🕺: Unlock Psychological Safety At Scale With The Best-Self Kickoff
Other notable features to increase engagement
- Track goal progress with Objectives and Key Results (OKRs)
- Provide relevant and timely feedback with Feedback
- Provide role clarity and strengths-based career development with Career Hub
Additional resources 📝
- Building a Thriving Community: Strategies to Launch Employee Resource Groups and Boost Engagement: In this webinar, you will discover the benefits of launching ERGs, learn how to identify the ERGs that will have the greatest impact on your organization, and explore best practices for promoting and encouraging participation. You’ll also gain insights and inspiration from successful ERG leaders, Cheri Armour, Community Coordinator at 15Five, Kenrica Sands, Sr Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion and People Programs Coordinator at Pendo, and Jennifer Therrien, VP of Global Talent Management and Development at PrismHR. They will share their experiences and tips for achieving lasting success.
- Engagement, Elevated: New Ways to Identify and Engage High Performers: Top performers are vital to every company’s success. Now more than ever organizations are scrambling to define outstanding performance, while also rewarding and recognizing the employees who consistently move the needle forward. In this webinar, Jennie Yang, VP of People & Culture at 15Five, and Vince Huang, Chief Product Officer at 15Five, sit down and discuss innovative ways for organizations to identify and engage their high performers.
- Building a Culture of Authenticity with Tyneeha Rivers (31 min): Curaleaf CPO, Tyneeha Rivers, breaks down the process of creating lasting cultural change to create spaces where people can be their authentic selves. As you listen, you’ll hear strategies for equipping leaders to empathetically connect with employees and techniques for using data to measure and improve employee engagement.