Category: Employee Motivation

Why Engagement is Still Your Best Move in 2026

If you’ve walked through your department lately, or scrolled through your team’s Slack channels, you’ve probably felt a bit of a shift. It’s no secret that the last year has been a bit of a rollercoaster. Between the rapid rise of AI and the constant headlines about corporate restructuring, it’s easy for a team to […]

70% of the Variance in Team Engagement is Because of the Manager!

If you’ve been in management for more than five minutes, you’ve probably felt that creeping sense of frustration when a team just isn’t clicking. You look at the benefits package, the hybrid schedule, and the decent pay, and you wonder why the energy still feels flat. It’s easy to blame “the culture” or “the economy” […]

Employees love a “Third Place” – Why you should create one at your office

Look, we’ve all seen it. You’ve got a nice office, but even when people show up, the place feels empty. Everyone has their headphones on, staring at a screen, just waiting for the clock to hit 5:00 so they can bail. We spent a lot of money on tech so people could work from home, […]

How to actually get Gen Z engaged in 2026

If you caught my last post, you know we talked about why the old ways of working for Gen Z just aren’t cutting it anymore. The reality is that Gen Z isn’t looking for the same things their parents were, and if a company is still promoting “hustle culture” or rigid hierarchies, they’re going to […]

The Rise of Micro-Mentoring

If you’ve been watching younger employees struggle to get their footing, you’re not imagining it. Remote and hybrid work have changed how people learn on the job. The learning and answers exist, but they’re buried in everyday work, calendars, and Zoom meetings. Traditional mentorship with formal meetings still matter. But waiting weeks or months for […]

The Rise of “Job Hugging”

Every few years, a new workplace trend tries to capture the collective mood of employees. We had the Great Resignation. Then Rage Applying. Quiet Quitting. Quiet Vacationing. And the latest buzz word shaping the headlines?  Job Hugging. Job Hugging describes employees who cling to jobs they don’t love. Not because they’re happy. Not because they […]

5 Ways to Create a Meaningful and Memorable Workplace Holiday Season

The end of the year brings plenty of deadlines and frantic, last-minute to-do, but it’s also the perfect time to pause, celebrate, and reconnect, because, after all…Holidays! A good workplace holiday celebration can do more than take up space on the calendar, it can also boost morale, build camaraderie, and remind people why they like […]

Do’s and Don’ts of Holiday Gift Ideas for Employees

If you’re in charge of buying holiday gifts for your employees, you may face a seemingly insurmountable problem. You will understandably want those gifts to feel personal, but also something where you don’t have to spend a lot of time buying an individual gift for five, 10, 20 or more people. You will also want […]

Leading with Trust: Strategies to Strengthen Workplace Connections

If your workplace isn’t built on trust, it’s built on sand. That might sound dramatic, but the data backs it up. According to Gallup’s “The World’s $8.9 Trillion Workplace Problem” report, low engagement and poor management practices are draining the global economy. Much of that stems from a simple, foundational issue: a lack of trust. […]

Why Engaged Managers Matter More Than You Think

We talk a lot about employee engagement. About quiet quitting. About burnout. But too often, the conversation skips over one of the biggest drivers of all three: management. The truth is simple. Engaged teams don’t happen by accident. They happen when they’re led by managers who are present, empowered, and emotionally invested in their people. […]