Last updated: 5th March 2025
Just 13% of employees in Europe are engaged with their work, according to Gallup’s latest State of the Global Workforce Report. 72% are ‘quiet quitting’, and the remaining 15% are actively disengaged. And the results for the UK are even more concerning, where just 10% of employees are actively engaged.
It’s no surprise that low engagement is not particularly good for business. Among other things, it brings a decrease in productivity, retention levels, and morale. Conversely, many studies have highlighted a direct correlation between high levels of employee engagement and greater business performance.
Thankfully, there’s an anecdote to this epidemic of disengagement….
Proactively re-connecting employees to their organisation’s purpose, strategy, and mission is one of the most effective ways to increase engagement.
But many of us already know this. In fact, ‘Engaging teams on purpose, strategy and values’ has been the top priority for internal communications and employee experience professionals for the last eight years, topping the chart again in 2025. So, this blog post outlines the strategy and tactics behind the need to connect employees to the organisation’s purpose, strategy, and vision.
Let’s jump in.
3 Priorities for Connecting Employees to Purpose, Strategy, and Vision
If the connection between employees’ daily work and the company’s overarching purpose, strategy, and vision is such an important driver of engagement, internal communicators must think tactically about how to connect the dots and portray a consistent narrative.
There are three core priority areas to create this all-important alignment and connection –
We’ve considered each priority in a little more detail, and explored the actionable tactics that will get you on the road to an engaged and connected workforce…
1. Aligned Leadership
Let’s start with the fundamentals. Strategic alignment at the leadership level always has to come first. Effective internal communication is authentic and genuine, so you can’t expect employees to get behind something that the leadership team has not yet bought into.
When it comes to engaging employees with your organisation’s purpose, strategy, and vision, it’s critical that you build a consistent narrative throughout all of your leadership messaging.
Employees need to receive an aligned message from different leaders throughout the company in order to truly understand and feel a genuine connection to the strategic direction. Whether it’s a reference to the organisation’s purpose as part of the introduction to a departmental All Hands, a quarterly strategy update email from the CEO or the COO running an Ask Me Anything session about the long-term vision, every opportunity to embed the strategy at leadership-level is incredibly valuable.
Tactically, Viva Engage offers the perfect platform upon which to facilitate open conversations between leadership and employees for organisations using M365. It also provides the functionality to host virtual All Hands and Q&A sessions, saving time, improving the employee experience, and reducing the admin burden.
We shared our tips to increase leadership engagement with the Institute of Internal Comms: 4 Practical Steps to Increase Engagement with Leadership using Microsoft Viva Engage.
2. Consistent Internal Messaging
It goes without saying that you need to communicate your organisation’s purpose, strategy, and vision clearly and frequently.
But we don’t just mean having a page on your intranet or a statement within your careers portal. We mean weaving strategic messaging into everyday communications, building your content strategy around your corporate values, and sharing stories about how your company’s purpose is being brought to life.
It’s all about translating the corporate strategy into an engaging story that your employees feel proud of, and understand well enough to repeat to friends and family members.
At a practical level, this might mean tagging each news post to a corporate value, as we built into the Met Office’s award-winning SharePoint intranet using a custom web part. Or using Viva Connections to aggregate strategy updates from right across your digital workspace, helping keep frontline employees in the know. Or even by making use of Viva Amplify to share a consistent narrative via multiple channels that targets different audiences with ease.
3. Transparent Goals and Objectives
Specifically aligning your employees’ focus with business outcomes can directly drive performance as well as improve engagement. So ensuring that every single employee has goals that are clearly aligned with the organisation’s purpose, strategy, and vision is a key priority.
To make this possible for individual employees, it’s important to ensure transparency of goals and objectives throughout the company. At a company level, a departmental level, and right through to a team level. This kind of visibility allows employees to understand how their work connects to their company’s broader goals, bolstering their engagement and motivation.
This is your opportunity to spotlight the “why” behind employees’ daily work and demonstrate how they’re a vital part of the picture.
For organisations using M365, Viva Goals is a ready-made platform that gives every member of every team visibility of the company’s overall goals and the ability to see how their day-to-day work is driving results. While performance management would typically sit outside of IC’s realm of responsibility, the Viva Goals platform is a solid IC-ally due to its ‘Share an update’ feature and focus on transparency, alignment and engagement. And unlike other goal-setting software, it’s fully integrated with the broader M365 suite and brings goals into the flow of everyday work via an app in Teams.
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Additional FAQs
What are the best strategies for improving employee engagement in the workplace?
It all starts with purpose. When employees understand why they’re doing what they do—and how it connects to the bigger picture—they feel more motivated and engaged. Leadership needs to communicate a clear vision, ensuring everyone knows where the company is headed. Open conversations, recognition, and a culture of trust make a real difference. Empowering people with the right tools, flexibility, and development opportunities helps them thrive, making work feel meaningful rather than just another job.
How does leadership shape employee engagement?
Engaged teams start with engaged leaders. When leadership is aligned on the company’s purpose and vision, it sets the tone for the entire business. Employees need clarity—not just about what they do, but why it matters. That means regular, transparent communication, a culture of listening, and leading by example. It’s also about showing appreciation and celebrating wins. A strong leadership approach ensures employees feel valued, motivated, and connected to something bigger than their day-to-day tasks.
Why is internal communication key to employee engagement?
Great communication is about creating conversations – not just sending messages. Employees want to feel informed, heard, and part of the journey. That means clear, consistent updates that link back to the company’s purpose, delivered through the right channels. A mix of face-to-face, digital, and interactive platforms (like Microsoft Teams and Viva Engage) keeps everyone connected, no matter where they work. When communication is open, honest, and engaging, employees feel more aligned, motivated, and part of a shared vision.
How do transparent goals drive employee engagement?
Clarity is everything. Employees who know what they’re working towards—and how their efforts contribute to wider business goals—feel more motivated and engaged. Transparent goal-setting builds trust, removes ambiguity, and helps teams stay focused. Using tools like Viva Goals makes it easier to track progress, celebrate wins, and course-correct when needed. When people see the impact of their work, it fuels their sense of purpose, making engagement a natural outcome rather than an effort.
How can Microsoft 365 help create a more engaged workforce?
Technology should empower people, not just improve productivity.
Platforms like Viva Engage create communities where employees can share ideas and celebrate success. Viva Goals ensures everyone is aligned with business objectives, while Teams keeps collaboration seamless. Viva Connections acts as a central hub for company news, resources, and conversations, helping employees stay informed and feel part of the bigger picture.
By integrating the right tools, businesses can foster a culture of transparency, collaboration, and purpose-driven work.
