Keeping Your Teams Engaged And Motivated For Better Retention

Originally Published: February 9, 2026

Many businesses are so preoccupied with attracting fresh new talent that they forget about the talent they already have working for them. Employee retention is becoming increasingly important for businesses, especially in competitive markets where skilled employees have more choices than ever.

Keeping teams engaged and motivated plays a key role in whether they choose to stay with a business. Feeling valued and supported is important, helping employees feel a stronger connection to their work. It also means they’re more likely to stay loyal to the company. Without this kind of engagement, employees may choose to go elsewhere, even if they’re highly paid. 

By focusing on motivation, communication and long-term development, businesses can improve retention and help employees feel more invested in their roles. Here are some of the actions you can take to help keep your teams engaged.

Create a positive work environment

A positive work environment is built on a space where employees feel respected and supported, as well as feel comfortable at work. This can include fostering a culture where trust, fairness and inclusion are a top priority. 

There are many ways to create a positive work environment, and small, consistent actions can make the biggest difference. Respectful behavior needs to begin from the top down, helping to shape workplace culture and ensure employees at all levels feel valued.

Understand what motivates your team

Motivation isn’t one-size-fits-all. Some employees are driven by progression or financial rewards, while others may value trust or being tasked with meaningful work. It’s important to understand what motivates your employees to help tailor your approach to individuals so you can guide them to perform at their best. 

Working with AI-powered HR and people strategy experts can help you get to know your employees’ motivation in greater detail, helping you make decisions that could improve performance as well as boost retention. You should also facilitate regular conversations about performance and feedback to get to know your team’s goals and how you can help them achieve them.

Encourage open and honest communication

Strong communication can help encourage positive employee engagement. Open and transparent communication can help employees feel informed and better connected to the wider business. From sharing company updates to communicating changes and challenges clearly, there are opportunities to encourage two-way conversations within the company.

As part of this process, you should allow employees to raise concerns and ask questions. Seeking feedback on ideas and decisions helps teams feel a part of the decision-making process. When employees feel heard, they are more likely to stay with the business rather than look elsewhere. 

Help your employees develop

If you want your employees to remain with the business, then it’s important to provide them with development opportunities. Investing in your team’s development shows that the company cares about their future, instead of just their current output. This can include training courses, mentoring, coaching and opportunities to develop skills and confidence by taking on additional responsibilities. 

Development doesn’t always have to mean promotion. For a lot of employees, it can mean learning new skills or gaining experience in different areas, providing opportunities that are just as motivating. Work out what your employees need from you to ensure they feel supported in their growth. 

Encourage ideas, and act on them

It’s always good to get fresh ideas, and some of your business’s best ideas could come from your employees. Employees often have valuable insights into how processes, services and working practices can be improved – they’ve got their ear to the ground after all. Encouraging people to share their ideas can transform your business, while helping them feel involved and respected. 

While not all ideas will be implemented, you can maintain trust by acknowledging contributions and explaining decisions clearly. This way, employees can understand that their ideas are taken seriously, building even stronger connections to the business and helping them stay motivated. Keep encouraging them to share ideas and providing forums that make this possible. 

Promote balance

Another factor in keeping teams engaged and motivated is to prioritize their wellbeing. A healthy work/life balance is important to employees, who are looking to avoid burnout and instead feel at ease with where they work. Long hours and constant pressure can lead to disengagement, which can lead to increased turnover. Promoting balance instead can help protect mental and physical health, which can support their ongoing performance.

Establishing some ground rules can be a good place to start to support employee wellbeing at work. This can include encouraging regular breaks away from desks and putting flexible working arrangements in place. You should also have rules for out-of-hours communication, ensuring employees aren’t bothered in the evenings and at weekends. Placing trust in your employees to manage their own workloads and their time can help further maintain balance, while also establishing trust between teams.

Help align individual roles with business goals

It’s important to help employees see how their roles fit within the overall business. Setting objectives that help individual roles link to wider business goals can create a greater sense of purpose, making tasks feel more meaningful. Regular feedback about progress against objectives can also help employees feel more valued, showing the impact their work has had.

When employees understand how their day-to-day work contributes to the success of the business, they’re more likely to feel engaged. Working with your teams to establish priorities and success factors can help bring them together and work towards common objectives, strengthening performance while also encouraging long-term commitment to the business. 

Ongoing employee retention isn’t just something that can be fixed in the short term. It requires constant effort to ensure employees feel supported and valued in their work, developing ongoing loyalty to the business and keeping your team engaged. This effort can pay off by helping you retain your best talent and creating a workplace that supports their growth, in addition to your own.

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