Why Employee Engagement Scores Don’t Improve — And What to Do About It

You’ve invested in surveys, shared results, and rolled out action plans. So why aren’t your engagement scores improving?

For many leaders, the numbers don’t budge and the frustration grows.

Leaders are left asking, "We listened. We acted. Why hasn’t anything changed?"

The truth is, the problem is not with the measurement itself. It is with how we respond to it. Engagement is not a number to chase or a metric to manage. It is a reflection of how people experience their work every day. Until we treat it that way, the scores will keep telling us what we already know and nothing more.

Why Engagement Scores Stay Stuck

Organizations have been measuring employee engagement for decades. Yet in many cases, the numbers remain stubbornly unchanged.

The surveys go out. The reports come back. Dashboards fill with charts, trends, and benchmarks. And still, nothing shifts in a meaningful way.

In her Forbes article, We Still Can’t Measure Employee Engagement. This Is Why, Susan LaMotte highlights a core issue. Traditional surveys offer a snapshot, not a story. They reflect how people felt at one moment in time, not how they are experiencing work today.

Employee sentiment is constantly evolving. It is shaped by systems, policies, leadership behaviors, and day-to-day interactions. By the time survey results are analyzed and action plans are created, the context may already have changed.

This is not a call for more frequent surveys. The problem is not how often we measure. It is how we interpret and respond.

"HR and company leaders are drowning in data, from HRIS demographics to dashboards tracking candidate career site clicks and pulse survey responses to employee sentiment." — Susan LaMotte, Forbes

Many organizations treat the engagement score as a performance target. But a higher number does not always mean a stronger culture. It can reflect short-term fixes, survey fatigue, or a lack of psychological safety to answer honestly.

When engagement is reduced to a metric, trust suffers. Employees do not disengage because they were asked for feedback. They disengage when that feedback leads nowhere.

Data should start a conversation. It should surface meaningful insights and guide thoughtful action. Not eventually. Now.

Until engagement is treated as something shaped by systems, leadership, and everyday experience, the numbers will keep telling the same story.

Two patterns keep showing up. Organizations fall back on generic action plans that feel disconnected from what people actually said. And too much attention goes to the score itself, not the insight behind it.

So what really shifts culture and engagement? Let’s look at where most approaches go wrong in more detail.

One-Size-Fits-All Action Plans

Once survey results come in, many organizations jump straight into action planning. There is a familiar rhythm: identify key themes, create a list of initiatives, communicate the follow-up. On paper, it looks productive. In practice, these responses are often too broad or too far removed from what employees actually said.

The intention is good, but the impact often falls short.

Gallup’s latest research shows engagement has fallen to a seven-year low, with only 23% of employees worldwide feeling engaged. The report links this drop to poor clarity, low trust in leadership, and weak connection to purpose, not a lack of measurement. As Gallup puts it, real change depends on meaningful conversations between managers and employees, not just tracking scores.

Culture does not shift because a task force was formed. It shifts when people believe their voice has influenced something real, and there is consistency in the new approach over time.

The real barriers to engagement are rarely about perks or surface-level communication. They sit in the way work is structured. They live in systems, habits, and unspoken expectations. They show up in who gets heard, how decisions are made, and what behavior gets rewarded.

These are not issues a template can fix. They require leaders to look honestly at how the organization functions and what the system continues to signal.

Employees do not want another round of initiatives. They want to know their feedback has been heard and taken seriously. That something meaningful is going to change.

Until organizations stop using surveys to drive action plans and start using them to guide honest conversations about how work really happens, the scores will not move and neither will the culture..

Data Without Insight

Data is essential. But on its own, it rarely tells the full story.

Engagement scores can point to areas that need attention. They highlight trends across business units and offer comparisons over time. But without context, these numbers are just surface-level signals. They show what is happening, not why.

“Analysing employee engagement survey results can provide valuable quantitative insights, but qualitative insights are also needed. These are what will derive action points to drive change and improvement.” Talexio

That connection is often where organizations fall short. Instead of leaning into what employees are really saying, leaders focus on averages and benchmark comparisons. In doing so, they risk missing the nuance and meaning behind the numbers.

Benchmarks can be useful. They help leaders identify where they stand and can surface meaningful patterns. But they should not be mistaken for insight. A score above the industry average may feel like success, yet it could be masking deeper issues specific to your organization.

Culture is not a race. It is shaped by the lived experiences of people in a particular context. What matters most to your people might not show up in a benchmark.

A high score may hide silent disengagement. A low score may reflect a short-term issue rather than a systemic one. Without deeper insight, the actions that follow can be too broad or entirely misplaced.

Every data point reflects a lived experience. But unless organizations listen for the themes behind the numbers, the emotional signals, the comments, and the stories, the picture remains incomplete.

Insight does not come from more data. It comes from interpretation. From drawing patterns. From connecting dots. From seeing employees not as numbers on a chart but as people with stories that shape how they show up to work every day.

The organizations that shift culture are not the ones with the most data. They are the ones who know how to turn data into understanding, and understanding into meaningful change.

What Actually Drives Culture and Engagement

Most organizations treat listening like an event. The survey goes out. The results come back. Then, silence.

But culture does not shift through a moment. It shifts through momentum. The kind that comes from consistent practice, real dialogue, and a willingness to re-examine how things work.

1. Listening as a Practice, Not a Project

Listening is not something leaders do once. It is something they build. A muscle, not a milestone.

Real engagement grows in environments where people know their feedback will not disappear into a report. It grows when conversations continue after the survey closes, when leaders return with curiosity, and when listening becomes part of how decisions get made.

Organizations and leaders that treat listening as an everyday practice, not an annual task, earn deeper trust and better outcomes.

2. Co-Creation Over Compliance

Change is often delivered top-down. Leaders craft a plan, then teams are expected to execute it. But engagement does not grow from compliance. It grows from co-creation.

When people are invited into the process, they are more likely to believe in the outcome. Ownership builds when solutions feel relevant, human, and within reach. It is not about giving everyone a vote on every decision. It is about making space for better questions, listening with intent, and shaping decisions with the people closest to the work.

This is where change becomes real. Not just agreed to, but lived.

3. Small, Meaningful Shifts Create Momentum

Culture can feel abstract or hard to influence, but it is often shaped by the smallest shifts. How meetings begin, the language leaders use, and the behaviors that are noticed, reinforced, or quietly ignored.

Grand campaigns might draw attention, but without grounding in daily practice, they fade fast. What really shapes culture are the signals people encounter every day, the moments that remind them they belong and that their work matters.

It is not about scale. It is about consistency. Momentum builds from small, intentional acts repeated over time.

4. System Thinking Matters

Real engagement is not just about motivation. It is shaped by the structures, processes, and expectations that define people's day-to-day experience.

When leaders focus only on individual behavior, they miss the bigger picture. People disengage not because they lack will, but because the system makes it hard to thrive. When priorities are unclear, feedback is ignored, or decisions feel opaque, the impact is cultural, not just operational.

This is why culture work must go deeper than sentiment. It has to ask how the system functions, who benefits, and what is being reinforced.

If you want to shift engagement, align the system with the experience you want to create. That is the real work. And the real opportunity.

How CultureC Works Differently

From Data to Dialogue

We start by making sense of the data you already have. Most teams are not short on information. They are stuck on what to do with it. We help you move from dashboards and reports to real insight. That means uncovering the stories behind the scores and translating feedback into action that teams can actually take.

Clarity That Lasts

We do not just offer recommendations. We work alongside your People team to build clarity that lasts. That means naming what is really in the way, surfacing unspoken tension, and helping leaders understand where change needs to start. The focus is always on what matters most, not what looks good on paper.

Capability Over Dependency

You should not need a consultant to tell you the same thing every quarter. We build internal capability so your team can keep the momentum going. We coach leaders, managers, and facilitators to lead change with clarity and confidence, so the progress sticks long after we step back.

Make the Technology Work for You

Most organizations have already invested in platforms and tools. We help you make sure those systems actually support the change you want to see. That means turning feedback into priorities, aligning technology with goals, and focusing on what helps people lead and collaborate more effectively.

Change That Shows Up

We are not here to fill out a slide deck. We are here to help change show up in the moments that matter. In how teams meet, how managers lead, and how decisions get made. That is where culture lives. That is where engagement shifts.

Daily Action, Not Once-a-Year Fixes

Real change happens in the everyday. We help leaders build habits of listening and reflection into their regular rhythms, team meetings, one-on-ones, and quick check-ins, so feedback turns into action while it is still relevant. These small, consistent conversations are what keep engagement alive between survey cycles.

"Dashboards can tell you where to look, but only conversation creates change. Engagement grows when leaders act on insights through 1:1s and real-world connection."

— Will Werhane, Partner at CultureC

What to Do Next

Start a real conversation

Go beyond the numbers. Bring your team into the dialogue. Listen for what sits underneath the scores and what people are really saying about how work feels.

Make it part of everyday life

Build reflection into regular rhythms. Use team check-ins, one-on-ones, and shared rituals to keep the conversation alive. Let listening become a habit, not a task.

Choose the right partner

Look for support that understands both culture and systems. The right partner helps you move from insight to action and stays with you through the messy middle.

Final thought

Engagement scores do not shift because someone sets a target. They shift when culture becomes a shared responsibility. When it is reflected in decisions, habits, and the way people work together every day.

That kind of change takes listening. It takes co-creation. And it takes the courage to look closely at how your system is helping or holding you back.

If you are ready to do the real work of culture, CultureC is here to walk alongside you.