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Employee engagement remains at the top of the priority list for HR leaders in 2025, but as the workplace continues to evolve, keeping teams motivated, aligned, and inspired requires more than annual surveys and happy hours. At SPARK HR 2025, HR professionals from leading organizations shared powerful strategies based on current data and real-world programs. With only 31% of U.S. employees actively engaged and 17% fully disengaged, leaders are facing an engagement crisis, and an opportunity.
Here are four actionable ways HR can meet the moment and drive meaningful engagement.
1. Be Intentional About Culture, Every Day
Workplace culture is the foundation of employee engagement. It influences whether employees feel seen, safe, and connected—or burned out, isolated, and disengaged.
Liz Almeida, CHRO of Panasonic, reminds leaders that culture isn’t a side project—it’s a daily practice rooted in intentionality and self-awareness. “When people don’t feel safe or a sense of belonging, they’re not going to take risks,” she warns. This leads to missed opportunities, stalled innovation, and talent attrition.
She encourages HR teams to ask key questions that cut through corporate noise:
- Who are we as an organization?
- What are our core values?
- How do those values show up, especially when the headlines change?
Tyrese Manigault, Manager of Employee Engagement at NASCAR, showed how deep cultural work begins with listening. NASCAR conducted multiple engagement and post-surveys to assess where disconnects were forming. From those insights came impactful initiatives:
- NASCAR University for career development
- Impact Week to support volunteerism
- Pit Crew Academy for onboarding
- NASCAR High-Five, a peer recognition program that increased employee recognition by 275%
Intentional culture-building isn’t about perks—it’s about connecting people to purpose, visibility, and belonging.
2. Equip and Support Your Managers
Managers have more influence on engagement than nearly any other role—and they’re also under more pressure than ever. Post-pandemic complexity has taken a toll, with 1 in 5 managers considering stepping down and over half feeling overwhelmed.
Chrissy Roth-Francis, PhD, Director of Talent & Development at LinkedIn, offers a roadmap based on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, applied to onboarding and manager development:
- Basics – Logistics like workspace setup, access to tools, and clarity on where to go
- Resources – Benefits, systems, policies, and support options
- Belonging – Relationships with colleagues, team culture, peer support
- Purpose – Role clarity, organizational goals, and how they can succeed
- Development – Ongoing feedback, coaching, and career planning
This onboarding is not a one-week process—it’s an investment in sustained success.
LinkedIn’s aspiring manager program also tackles misalignment by honestly previewing what leadership really looks like. “Do you want to be in 15 meetings a day?” Roth-Francis asks future managers. “We tell them the truth because we want the right people in the right roles.”
3. Champion Innovation and Agility
In a changing world, innovation is engagement. HR leaders who encourage experimentation help teams stay curious, creative, and connected to purpose.
Allison Vendt, VP of People Operations at Dropbox, advocates for a flexible mindset. With their virtual-first model, Dropbox balances autonomy with structure by using “core collaboration hours”, four-hour time blocks synced to major time zones for real-time work.
“There’s no single model that fits every organization,” Vendt says. “It’s about blending intentionality with flexibility.”
Ben Eubanks, Chief Research Officer at Lighthouse Research & Advisory, emphasizes small-scale innovation through a technique called “hacking.” Rather than waiting for a big breakthrough, teams should look for 2% improvements, adjustments to onboarding, feedback cycles, or tech use that compound into lasting transformation.
Innovation doesn’t require a tech budget. It requires curiosity, iteration, and empowerment.
4. Define the Role of AI in the Employee Experience
As AI transforms work, HR’s role is to guide how it integrates into people’s daily experience, not just from a compliance perspective, but to reduce burnout and elevate human strengths.
Matthew Duncan, Head of Thought Leadership on the Future of Work at Microsoft, encourages leaders to build AI literacy alongside softer skills like adaptability and conflict mitigation. “The future belongs to those who can pair deep AI capabilities with what machines can’t do—empathy, ethics, and human judgment,” Duncan says.
He proposes these steps for meaningful AI integration:
- Deploy digital agents to offload repetitive tasks
- Treat AI systems like teammates, not tools
- Determine the right ratio of AI vs. human control
- Test, measure, and iterate to refine the experience
When implemented transparently and inclusively, AI allows employees to focus on creativity, connection, and value, which are core to engagement.
Final Thoughts: Engagement Is Not a Perk, It’s a Practice
Employee engagement in 2025 is not about fixing morale once a year, it’s about embedding purpose, support, and adaptability into the culture every day.
Whether it’s empowering managers, embracing flexibility, or defining how AI serves your people, the takeaway is clear: great workplaces are intentional, not accidental. When HR leaders champion culture, clarity, and care, they don’t just boost productivity, they build resilient, inspired teams who want to stay and grow.
