Employee Engagement Surveys Often Miss What Matters Most To Your People

Employee engagement surveys have long been a staple in workplace strategy, providing organizations with valuable insights into workforce sentiment. However, our latest report reveals what traditional engagement surveys often miss — the deeper motivations that drive performance, innovation, and retention.

How do you enhance your employee engagement strategy to bring more of what your employees really need? Using our latest innovation, the What Juices You App, we’ve gathered data across 1,200+ employees in 40+ teams over the last year and compiled a set of data unlike any other. Our new report helps shed light on what matters most to employees today.

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Your employee engagement survey can reveal what’s happening within your organization at a macro level – but it’s often hard to decipher why leaders’ good intentions are not turning into engagement results.

Imagine you had insights that explained to your fellow executives why technological implementations are mired, hard-sought talent doesn’t stick around, superstars are burning out, and NPS scores are flagging.

This report bridges this gap by focusing on what matters most to employees, and how understanding and addressing what matters most to your people can transform organizational performance.

The 5 Driving Needs That Fuel Employee Engagement

Our work with organizations over two decades points to a simple fact: Need-meeting is central to the healthy function of teams, organizations, families, and communities. Once relegated to the front line, Need-meeting is now essential at every level to drive innovation, engagement, and customer experiences.

Meeting these Needs fuels high performance, unlocking emotional engagement and releasing 4x the discretionary effort of rational engagement. Rather than relying solely on engagement scores, organizations should focus on these five fundamental needs:

1. Belonging

• Trusted relationships, quality connections, and a healthy workplace culture are essential.
• Employees with a strong sense of belonging show sustained energy and resilience.

2. Security

• Clarity, structure, and fair treatment help employees feel safe and focused.
• Security often plays a supporting role in driving other needs like Significance and Freedom.

3. Freedom

• Employees thrive when they have autonomy, adaptability, and opportunities for innovation.
• Organizations that balance independence with accountability unlock greater creativity.

4. Significance

• The most dominant Driving Need, Significance fuels productivity and performance.
• Employees need to feel valued and respected, with opportunities for growth and recognition.

5. Meaning

• Employees seek purpose through making a difference, understanding the “why,” and contributing to a greater good.
• This Need drives long-term motivation but also experiences the highest levels of depletion when ignored.

Why Employee Engagement Surveys Fall Short

Most engagement surveys focus on surface-level metrics—job satisfaction, workload balance, and career growth. However, they often fail to capture the deeper emotional and psychological drivers that impact performance.

Key shortcomings include:

• Lack of Individual Context: Surveys provide macro-level data but don’t explain why employees feel disengaged.
• Ignoring Needs: Every employee has a Dealbreaker—an essential Need that, if unmet, leads to rapid disengagement.
• Failure to Address Emotional Realities: Rational engagement strategies don’t account for the emotional responses that drive behavior.

How Organizations Can Use These Insights

1. Identify Employee Needs. By using real-time data and interactive tools, organizations can pinpoint what truly drives each employee. Our What Juices You App, for example, helps teams understand individual energy sources and drains, allowing for more effective engagement strategies.

2. Foster a Culture Where Employees Feel Valued and Respected. With nearly 70% of employees prioritizing Significance and Meaning, leaders must actively recognize contributions, provide growth opportunities, and ensure employees feel heard.

3. Build Quality Connections to Sustain Energy. Strong workplace relationships prevent burnout and improve resilience. Employees who rank “Quality Connections” as their Dealbreaker show significantly lower energy depletion rates than those who don’t.

4. Balance Structure and Autonomy. Organizations must create environments where employees feel secure but also have the freedom to innovate and take calculated risks.

Don’t Throw Away Your Engagement Surveys

Employee engagement surveys provide a starting point, but they should be supplemented with a deeper understanding of what truly energizes and motivates employees. By addressing the five Driving Needs—Belonging, Security, Freedom, Significance, and Meaning—organizations can unlock discretionary effort, boost retention, and drive high performance.

For businesses looking to enhance engagement strategies, shifting the focus from engagement scores to energy management is the key to unlocking sustained success.