Stop Pretending You Care: The Brutal Truth About Workplace Engagement

Engagement surveys are bullshit. There, I said it.

After seventeen years running my own consultancy and watching countless businesses throw money at "engagement initiatives," I've realised most companies are asking the wrong bloody questions. They want to know why Janet from accounts looks miserable during team meetings, but they're not prepared to hear that Janet's been doing the same mind-numbing tasks for three years whilst watching less qualified people get promoted around her.

Here's what your boss won't tell you about engagement: it's not their job to engage you. It's yours.

The Problem With Waiting for Permission

Most people treat workplace engagement like they're waiting for an invitation to their own party. They sit around expecting management to hand them interesting projects, meaningful work, and a sense of purpose wrapped up with a bow. Meanwhile, they're scrolling through social media during meetings and wondering why they feel disconnected.

I learned this the hard way back in 2009 when I was burning out in corporate law. Spent months complaining about boring cases, difficult partners, and meaningless billable hour targets. The turning point came when a senior associate told me, "Stop waiting for someone else to make your job interesting. Make it interesting yourself."

Harsh. But spot on.

The truth is, around 67% of employees report feeling disengaged at work, but most of them are passive participants in their own careers. They've handed over control of their professional satisfaction to people who frankly have bigger things to worry about than whether Brad finds his spreadsheet work fulfilling.

Take Back Control (Without Being a Pain in the Arse)

Start with micro-ownership. Pick one small aspect of your role and make it completely yours. I don't mean revolutionary changes that'll get you hauled into HR. I mean the kind of improvements that make you think "I actually give a damn about this bit."

When I worked with a team at Groundlocal last year, we discovered that their most engaged employees weren't the ones with the fanciest job titles. They were the ones who'd claimed ownership of something - even if it was just maintaining the office plant roster or organizing the quarterly team lunch.

One bloke in their Melbourne office had taken it upon himself to streamline their client onboarding process. Nobody asked him to. Management didn't even know he was doing it. But he'd identified a problem that genuinely annoyed him and fixed it. Six months later, he was promoted to team lead.

Connect your work to something that matters to you. This doesn't mean your job has to save the world. It means finding the thread between what you do and what you care about.

I once worked with a data analyst who was bored senseless by quarterly reports until she realised the patterns she was identifying could help prevent small businesses from making costly mistakes. Same data, same spreadsheets, but now she was protecting people's livelihoods. Her productivity jumped 40% because she'd found her why.

The Networking Lie Everyone Believes

People bang on about networking like it's some magical engagement cure. "Join the company social committee! Attend industry events! Build relationships!"

Bollocks.

Real engagement comes from doing work that makes you feel competent, not from making small talk at corporate mixers. The best networkers I know aren't the ones working the room at conferences - they're the ones solving interesting problems and naturally attracting people who want to work with them.

That said, finding your tribe at work matters enormously. But it's not about collecting LinkedIn connections. It's about finding people who care about the same things you do and collaborating with them on stuff that actually moves the needle.

The Feedback Loop Nobody Talks About

Here's where most engagement advice goes sideways: everyone tells you to "seek feedback" without explaining what to do with it.

The secret isn't asking "How am I doing?" It's asking "What's the most important problem I could help solve?" This question shifts you from passive feedback receiver to active problem solver. Plus, it positions you as someone who thinks strategically rather than just wanting validation.

I've watched professional development programs completely transform teams when they focus on problem-solving rather than personality assessments. People don't get engaged by learning their Myers-Briggs type. They get engaged by tackling challenges that matter.

The Danger of Fake Engagement

Companies love employees who smile during all-hands meetings and volunteer for every committee. But that's often performance, not engagement. Real engagement sometimes looks like disagreement, questions, and pushing back on ideas that don't make sense.

The most engaged person on my current project team is also the one who challenges everything. She asks uncomfortable questions about why we're doing things certain ways and whether our approach actually serves our clients. Management initially found her "difficult," but her questions led to a complete strategy overhaul that saved everyone six months of wasted effort.

Authentic engagement means caring enough to be occasionally unpopular.

What Actually Works (Based on Real Experience, Not Surveys)

Set your own challenges. Don't wait for performance reviews to set goals. Identify something you want to get better at and create your own development plan. Maybe it's learning a new software system, understanding another department's processes, or developing a skill that makes you more valuable.

Document your wins. This isn't about self-promotion (though that's important too). It's about training your brain to notice progress and impact. Most people underestimate their contributions because they never stop to acknowledge them.

Protect your energy for work that matters. This is the big one. Most disengagement comes from death by a thousand tiny tasks that feel important but don't actually contribute to anything meaningful. Learn to distinguish between busy work and valuable work, then ruthlessly minimize the former.

Find your learning edge. The sweet spot of engagement is working on things that are challenging enough to be interesting but not so difficult that you're constantly frustrated. If everything feels easy, you're probably ready for more responsibility. If everything feels impossible, you might need to build some foundational skills first.

The Bottom Line Nobody Wants to Hear

Sometimes the problem isn't your engagement level. Sometimes it's the job itself.

I've worked with plenty of people who tried every strategy, took on extra projects, and genuinely invested in their roles only to realize they were in fundamentally wrong situations. There's no shame in acknowledging when a role or company isn't right for you. In fact, recognizing this is often the most engaged thing you can do.

The goal isn't to force yourself to love any job. It's to take responsibility for your own professional satisfaction and make informed decisions about where to invest your energy.

Related Reading:

• Core Group - Time Management
• Eventbrite Training Events

Stop waiting for someone else to make your work meaningful. That's your job.