A vision that strongly contributes to improving employee engagement

First, let’s revisit the meaning and definition of employee engagement. We will also introduce the Q12 method, which is useful for employee surveys.

In addition, regarding employee engagement, a previous article explored its relationship with internal branding. Reading that article alongside this one can help deepen your understanding of the correlation between employee engagement, branding, and vision.

1-1. What Is Employee Engagement?

According to Gallup, employee engagement refers to a state in which employees are actively involved in their work and workplace, demonstrating enthusiasm and a sense of responsibility.

Engagement is reflected in the degree of employees’ “passion,” “willingness to contribute,” and “psychological investment” in their organization and work. It can be understood through three specific aspects:

・“Cognition” (how employees understand their work and organization)
・“Emotion” (satisfaction, pride, and sense of belonging at work)
・“Behavior” (voluntary improvement proposals, going the extra mile for customers, choosing to stay with the company)

Highly engaged organizations are more productive, with improved customer satisfaction and employee creativity. Conversely, low engagement leads to increased absenteeism, turnover, and “passive presence,” where employees are physically present but fail to deliver results.

1-2. Q12: A Scientific Employee Survey Metric

Gallup has conducted employee surveys worldwide for over 80 years. Among these, the famous “Q12” consists of 12 questions that serve as a scientific measure of how engaged and motivated employees are in their workplace.

For example, the survey includes questions such as:

・Are the expectations for your job clear?
・Do you have the materials and tools you need?
・Do you have the opportunity to do what you do best every day?
・Do you receive recognition or praise from your manager or colleagues?
・Are there opportunities for growth and development at work?
・Do you understand how your work contributes to the company’s mission and goals?

For more details, see Gallup’s “Measuring Employee Engagement with Q12®”.

Q12 allows aggregation of individual question scores to calculate an overall “engagement ratio” and easily identify bottlenecks. For instance, a low score on “meaning of work” may indicate a problem with “vision sharing,” providing insights close to causal relationships.

As these questions show, engagement is not about emotions or motivation alone—it reflects the “quality of relationships.” Connections with the organization, trust in managers, and a sense of purpose in work form the core of engagement. According to Gallup, teams in the top 25% of engagement achieve the following compared with the bottom 25%:

On the other hand, negative indicators such as absenteeism (-78%), turnover (-51%), and safety issues (-63%) show that low engagement increases organizational risks.

In other words, engagement is not an “emotional issue” in management—it is a strategic metric that drives clear economic outcomes.

Why, then, is employee engagement so low in Japan?

In fact, Japanese employees tend to find it difficult to perceive “meaning” or “value” in their work itself. According to data from the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP), the percentage of Japanese respondents who said their work is “valuable” or “beneficial to society” is 10–20 points lower than in other developed nations.

Let’s explore the background and current reality of this issue, including the emerging tendencies among younger employees representing Generation Z.

2-1. The Absence of Work Meaning and the Limits of the Japanese Employment Model

Traditional Japanese employment models (such as lifetime employment and seniority-based promotion) have long provided “belonging” and “stability” through work. These systems were underpinned by a long history of “membership-based employment,” seniority norms, and a culture emphasizing loyalty to the organization. While this structure appeared to ensure stability, it often deprived individuals of purpose and creativity, leaving the question of “why we work” ambiguous.

At the same time, in many recent cases, the real cause of declining engagement has been identified not in surface-level factors like “pay” or “benefits,” but in the absence—or poor communication—of a compelling “vision” that paints a picture of the future. As industrial structures evolve and personal values diversify, stability alone is no longer enough to motivate employees. Specifically, the following issues are often observed:

・Unclear sense of “why the company exists” (vision not embedded in daily operations)
・Work disconnected from personal values and life goals
・Routine tasks that create a sense of meaningless labor

As a result, employees begin to see their daily work as something they are “made to do,” which naturally lowers engagement levels.

In other words, the “absence of meaning in work” symbolizes the limitations of the traditional Japanese employment system.

A vision serves as the “language of hope” that breaks through this sense of futility. By clarifying “how one’s work contributes to the organization’s future,” employees can rediscover purpose, and engagement can grow through mutual reinforcement.

2-2. The “Quiet Rebellion” of the Younger Generation

As noted in Gallup’s report, a growing trend among younger employees (Millennials and Generation Z) is “quiet quitting.” Rather than openly rebelling, they silently distance themselves from their work. Beneath this behavior lies a sense of helplessness—the feeling that they can no longer find personal growth or purpose in their roles.

This younger generation tends to prioritize “shared values,” “a sense of growth,” and “work-life balance” more than older generations. Instead of expressing dissatisfaction through overt resistance or resignation, they often exhibit subtle signs—a “quiet rebellion”—such as:

・Doing only the minimum required without showing initiative
・Following formal rules but avoiding creativity or innovation
・Limiting contributions to the company while independently pursuing personal career growth

If organizations fail to notice these signals, they risk stagnation as the “latent potential of talented employees” remains untapped.

Once again, for Millennials and Generation Z, what matters more than “job stability” are “meaningful work,” “learning and growth,” and “social contribution.” They place high importance on whether a company’s vision can connect with their personal life vision and lifestyle. What they seek from organizations is not “perfection,” but “empathy” and “transparency.” What resonates with them is not superficial systems or strategies—but a clear and sincere vision.
This alone underscores the need to redefine a clear and relatable vision that answers the question, “Why do we do this work?”

A vision is not just a slogan — it is a source of psychological energy that moves people. Let’s break down how this mechanism works.

3-1. Vision as a “Blueprint for Empathy”

It is easier to design and communicate a vision by structuring it into the following three layers:

① Purpose (Why): The reason for existence and social significance
② Direction (Where): The envisioned future (within 3–10 years)
③ Guiding Principles (How): The daily decision-making standards and priorities

For more details, please refer to the previous article. By communicating these three layers clearly and embedding them into daily operations, employees can understand where their current work fits within the larger vision. Once they grasp that meaning — that sense of relevance — psychological energy (motivation) naturally emerges.

From a psychological standpoint, organizations with a clear vision often show a strong correlation between employees’ self-efficacy and their intrinsic motivation. Fundamentally, humans can sustain long-term effort when they feel they are contributing to something of genuine value.

3-2. The Connection Between Vision and Well-being

Here are the main reasons why a vision contributes to employees’ well-being — both mental and physical:

・Clarifying meaning → Makes it easier to identify the sources of stress
・Sharing direction → Reduces anxiety by clarifying roles and expectations
・Sense of connected achievement → Small wins reinforce the feeling of contributing to the larger vision

Enhancing well-being directly leads to lower absenteeism and turnover rates, as well as greater organizational creativity. In practical terms, setting KPIs linked to the vision — and creating systems that celebrate achievements — is particularly effective.

It is unfortunate, but in reality, many organizations that formulate a vision end up letting it become merely a formality. There are various reasons for this, but here we will briefly introduce several common failure patterns and their countermeasures.
If your organization falls into any of these categories, it may be time to revisit both the content of your vision and how it is being implemented.

Typical Patterns and Responses
① Created only top-down (stops at communication)
→ Countermeasure: Involve on-site members through workshops and co-create the vision. Set up small experiments for validation.
② Filled with abstract language (not actionable)
→ Countermeasure: Break it down into three specific actions that can start immediately.
③ Inconsistent with current evaluation systems
→ Countermeasure: Reflect contributions to the vision in evaluations and rewards. Introduce behavioral assessment.
④ Frequently changed / lacks clear update rules
→ Countermeasure: Establish clear update rules and explain any changes with a coherent story. Include regular review sessions at the field level.
⑤ Measured only verbally, not tracked
→ Countermeasure: Monitor regularly using Q12 or original KPIs. Implement a continuous improvement cycle.

As shown above, to prevent these issues, it is essential to design a co-creative process involving the field, translate the vision into concrete actions, link it with the evaluation system, establish clear update rules, and conduct regular monitoring.

To make a vision function effectively in practice, it is vital not to stop at formulation, but to consistently design a system that includes both implementation and improvement.

To bring a vision to life, a leader with the power to *communicate and inspire* is essential. However, being a good speaker alone is not enough — the following abilities are also required.

Three Essential Abilities for Leaders
① Empathic Presentation: The ability to stand in others’ shoes and show that “this work has meaning for you.”
② Behavioral Consistency: Demonstrating the vision through one’s own actions — aligning words and deeds.
③ Development Capability: Creating the environment and building the skills needed for others to contribute to the vision (through education and delegation of authority).

For those who wish to learn more about leadership, please refer to our previous articles on leaders and leadership — they also introduce the essential qualities required of effective leaders.

Meanwhile, according to Gallup’s Global Leadership Report (2025), the most desired quality that followers (employees) seek in their leaders worldwide is “hope” (46%). In other words, today’s leaders are not merely “guardians of stability,” but “visionaries who shape the future and guide others toward it.”

When a leader speaks about their vision, it is not just about delivering a message. It is an act of sharing — through both words and actions — the “story of our existence”: who we are, and where we are headed. That is the true essence of visionary leadership.

Embedding a vision into organizational culture cannot be achieved through top-down communication alone. What’s required is co-creation. In other words, it means fostering an environment where employees themselves become “storytellers” of the vision — able to reinterpret and express it in their own words.

Organizations with high employee engagement tend to treat their vision not as a “possession” but as a “shared asset.” This is not rooted in any religious-like belief, but rather in a network of trust built around a shared image of the future.

It is my sincere hope that organizations will shape “hope” into the form of a vision — one that each employee can embrace as their own source of hope, nurtured through empathy and shared meaning.

References:
・Gallup (2025) Challenge for Transformation: The New Face of Japanese Workplaces
・Gallup (2025) State of the Global Workplace 2025
・Yoko Asuyama (2023) “Characteristics of Japanese Jobs Seen Through International Comparison,” Japan Labor Research Journal
・World Economic Forum (2025) The Future of Jobs Report 2025
・OECD (2025) Productivity Indicators Overview 2025
・Kumiko Nishi (Social Research Division) & Akira Aramaki (Audience Research Division), “Low Job Satisfaction Among Japanese Workers — Findings from the ISSP International Comparative Survey on Work Orientation”