Digital Engagement: Driving Productivity in the AI Era

Looking ahead to the next decade, one thing is increasingly clear: the organizations that thrive will be those that cultivate digital engagement, not just digital adoption. While technology continues to advance at unprecedented speed, it’s the human factors surrounding it — curiosity, adaptability, and comfort with experimentation — that will determine which companies unlock productivity gains and which fall behind.

Generative AI is moving fast, reshaping how work gets done and redefining what’s possible for small and midsize businesses. But despite its astonishing capabilities, humans will determine its speed, impact and ultimate value. And today’s digitally engaged workers will be the ones who push their organizations into the future.

Engagement Has Always Driven Performance

Long before AI entered the workplace, employee engagement was already one of the strongest predictors of retention, productivity, and performance. Engaged workers show lower absenteeism and turnover, fewer quality defects, and higher customer satisfaction, sales, and profitability. They bring discretionary effort — the willingness to go above and beyond because they feel connected to the mission, valued by their leaders, and motivated to grow.

Engagement is not the same as happiness or job satisfaction. It’s the emotional commitment employees feel toward their organization’s goals, a more profound connection that fuels collaboration, problem-solving, and resilience in an ever-changing environment.

But the latest data reveals a troubling trend: U.S. employee engagement remains stuck at 32%, with 17% actively disengaged. Two-thirds of employees are “not engaged,” and younger workers are particularly detached, with Gen Z engagement sliding by 5 points over the past year.

For CEOs, this moves beyond a cultural challenge; it’s a productivity crisis. Disengaged employees drag down performance, undercut team dynamics, and slow the pace of change at a moment when organizations can least afford it.

What CEOs Are Prioritizing to Rebuild Engagement

The good news is that CEOs understand the problem and are acting on it. According to the latest Vistage research, CEOs are reinvesting in the cultural drivers that matter most:

• 89% emphasize clear communication and transparency
• 82% focus on building a positive, values-driven culture
• 71% invest in growth and development opportunities
• 65% support work-life balance and flexibility

These priorities reflect a deeper understanding: engagement starts with trust. And trust is built through communication, recognition, development, and strong middle-management leadership. When managers are engaged, accountable, and aligned, teams follow. When they’re disengaged, they become, as one Vistage Chair put it, “engagement killers.”

But as critical as these traditional engagement drivers are, they now represent only part of the picture. To maximize the potential of Gen AI, organizations need a new layer of engagement.

A digital one.

Accelerate your productivity and reshape your workforce. Get the report: Digital Engagement: A Predictor of Productivity.

Digital Engagement: The New Productivity Multiplier

In the AI era, digitally engaged workers — those who embrace new tools, learn quickly, and experiment openly — will drive the next frontier of productivity.

These aren’t technologists. They’re curious, adaptable knowledge workers who see Gen AI not as a threat, but as an opportunity. In our research, digitally engaged employees demonstrate distinct characteristics:

• They continuously develop new use cases for Gen AI.
• They invest in AI skills and share what they learn.
• They help design and build team-based AI tools and agents.
• They operate a “continuously evolving digital office.”

Disengaged workers behave very differently. They resist new technologies, rely only on simple prompts, and wait for someone else to define best practices for them. In a world being reshaped by AI, these employees will struggle to keep up.

Ultimately, digital engagement is the catalyst that turns Gen AI from a productivity enhancer into a productivity accelerant.

The CEO Mandate: Curate Curiosity

To realize the full potential of Gen AI, CEOs must go beyond adoption. They must cultivate curiosity, the defining attribute that fuels digital engagement. The report is clear: “Digital engagement will become the defining attribute of the best and most desired workers.”

Forward-thinking CEOs will:

• Identify your digitally engaged employees and prioritize their development.
• Retain them by providing growth opportunities, psychological safety, and room to experiment.
• Invest in training, tools, and platforms that accelerate their development.
• Recruit digitally engaged workers only.

Every future workplace will require these workers. All others, including those who resist change or cling to traditional workflows, will eventually be culled from the workforce.

The mandate is clear: Invest heavily in developing digitally engaged workers today, retain them for tomorrow, and hire others like them every day. To do anything less is to get left behind.

Ready to Dive Deeper?

Download the full report, Digital Engagement: A Predictor of Productivity, to explore the data, frameworks, and expert perspectives shaping the “Workplace 2030” vision. It’s your roadmap to leading in the AI-driven decade ahead.

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