Few things are more critical to an organisation’s success than having an engaged workforce.

– Harvard Business Review, Nov 2018

When employees feel engaged, they bring energy, enthusiasm, and motivation to their work. This leads to greater productivity, improved job performance, stronger loyalty, and increased innovation. As a result, organisations benefit from better profits and enhanced workplace morale. Employees also experience higher levels of wellbeing and job satisfaction.

However, low engagement often triggers burnout, staff turnover, and harmful behaviours like bullying, harassment, or even fraud.

What Drives Engagement in the Workplace?

Researchers have long explored what fuels engagement. Why do some employees feel energised by their work, while others feel disconnected? Is it about leadership, working conditions, or something else?

Evidence points to four key drivers of engagement:

1. Human Connection – trust, teamwork, collaboration, friendship, fun
2. Empowerment – autonomy, ownership, respect, responsibility
3. Recognition – value, feedback, reward, status
4. Meaning – purpose, challenge, development, motivation

Organisations seeking to improve engagement must address these areas. But the impact of each factor often depends on the individual and more specifically, on their personality.

Engagement Starts with the Individual

The Harvard Business Review highlights that engagement often depends less on what the job offers and more on what the person brings to it. Two people in the same role, with the same conditions, can feel entirely different about their work. Their personality traits such as optimism, resilience, and conscientiousness may explain the difference.

A 2018 study revealed that nearly 50% of engagement variation stems from personality. Positive, outgoing, and hard-working individuals tend to show higher engagement regardless of the job environment.

Should Organisations Hire for Personality?

Some employers use psychometric testing to identify candidates who score highly in traits linked to engagement, such as agreeableness and conscientiousness. This approach might seem attractive, especially for leadership development programmes or employee engagement solutions.

But relying solely on ‘engageable’ personalities can backfire.

Here’s Why:

• Constructive criticism improves culture – By only hiring cheerful optimists, organisations risk ignoring cultural issues or leadership gaps. Feedback from more skeptical voices often highlights what needs fixing.
• Context still drives 50% of engagement – No matter how motivated an individual may be, ignoring the key engagement drivers—human connection, empowerment, recognition, and meaning—will eventually lead to disengagement. Even resilient employees will struggle without these foundations.
• Innovators often challenge the norm – Creative thinkers tend to question inefficiencies and resist outdated systems. They’re more likely to disengage, but also more likely to drive innovation. Filtering them out could cost the business its best ideas.
• Diverse teams deliver better results – Successful teams combine different personalities. A variety of perspectives improves organisational culture, enhances decision-making, and fosters innovation. This cognitive diversity—how people think, feel, and behave—is just as vital as demographic diversity.

Build Engagement Through Emotional Intelligence and Inclusion

Rather than hiring based on personality, focus on building emotional intelligence in the workplace. Self-aware employees understand their behaviours, thought patterns, and emotional responses, which helps them take ownership of their engagement.

This approach also supports more inclusive and resilient teams. Through inclusive leadership training, personal development and growth mindset training, and organisational culture training, you can cultivate an environment where individuals feel empowered, valued, and connected.

Combining these efforts with broader workplace wellbeing programmes and organisational engagement and wellbeing solutions will help you create a workplace where diverse personalities can thrive, and where everyone plays a part in driving performance.

Looking to improve employee engagement and workplace culture?

Our tailor-made training programmes focus on emotional intelligence, personality awareness, and inclusive leadership. We help employees understand themselves and each other, strengthening engagement, communication, trust, and team performance.

Talk to us, explore our website, read our blog, and follow us on LinkedIn to learn more and discover ways to grow a more successful business.