Lately, engagement surveys are triggering more tension than transformation.
We've seen high-profile cases where CEOs have responded publicly and negatively to "bad" employee engagement and sentiment. In other cases, HR leaders have reported that, within their organization, negative feedback is increasingly met with resistance, dismissal, or outright anger.
It's not that leaders don't care about employee concerns, but high business pressure combined with weak job markets shifts power toward employers, creating conditions where negative employee reports are more likely to face backlash. Let's add to that the uncertainty of AI innovation, tighter budgets in an uncertain economy, and rising expectations—and it's understandable why many executives are feeling overloaded and reactive.
But here's the reality: employee experience still matters.
It's not a soft initiative. It's a direct contributor to business outcomes—especially productivity, innovation, retention, and engagement. The problem isn't that engagement data exists, or that it is negative. It's that it often lacks the clarity and relevance leaders need to act.
Without metrics on specific workplace dynamics and their impact on business outcomes, it's easy for organizational leaders to dismiss dissatisfied employees as ungrateful or entitled, or to resist the results entirely. As an HR or L&D professional, you know the importance of employee satisfaction. Armed with the right kind of data, you're in a unique position to influence organizational leaders to respond in a positive way.
Adding Context
What if we moved from measuring broad sentiment—how employees feel in general—to tracking specific workplace dynamics that everyone can rally behind?
That's what we do at Atana, focusing on metrics like psychological safety, speaking up, professional conduct, appreciation, and accountability—the building blocks of a high-performing, respectful culture. These are not vague feelings. They are observable behaviors that impact team function, trust, and performance. And they offer something both employees and leaders can align around.
Atana's data is gathered in the context of training moments where employees are reflecting on different workplace scenarios and whether they can realistically see themselves applying specific target behaviors in their organization. This approach elicits honest answers because the questions are grounded in context. As a result, it reveals both training outcomes and broader organizational insights.
Let's look at an example of what happens when this kind of data comes to light:
Say an Atana Insight signals an issue with the organization's frontline workers: Results indicate that psychological safety is weak. Team members feel their input isn't really valued and many withhold their true opinions.
What leadership sees:
Frontline workers are critical for customer experience, brand reputation, and revenue—they are the face of the company's strategy. If the team isn't speaking up, leaders miss warning signs of poor service, challenges with processes, and valuable improvement ideas. That threatens organizational goals. Leaders can act to address this so the team can do their best work and deliver results.
What managers see:
Frontline managers may feel defensive to learn that psychological safety on their team is weak, but leadership works with these managers to teach them skills to build psychological safety. Managers are empowered with new skills to solicit more feedback, listen better, and respond well to mistakes.
What employees see over time:
They notice more opportunities to contribute. Leaders ask more open-ended questions, welcome differing perspectives, and treat mistakes as learning moments. It's clear: their input matters.
The organizational outcomes:
Psychological safety increases. Managers are hearing more from their team members, and executives are confident in the communication coming from frontline workers. The workers feel listened to and believe their contributions matter. Everyone benefits.
By moving away from overall engagement and employee feedback, organizations are watching mutually beneficial metrics that point to individual, team, and organizational success.
Atana's data gives leaders a contextual view—showing not just where issues exist, but what behaviors are enabling or blocking progress. (Figure 1). That makes the insights easier to use—and less likely to trigger defensiveness.
The goal is not to replace engagement surveys, but rather to survey in a way that makes the findings contextualized and actionable—helping leaders and employees alike move from feedback to forward motion.
This approach is stronger long term. Things like the job market, economic conditions, and political winds will change. By grounding on contextualized and actionable indicators, organizations can sustain progress. Metrics that track behavior, not just sentiment, are key to that alignment.
Figure 1: Examples of Atana-measured behaviors that impact psychological safety.
Atana's data gives leaders a contextual view—showing not just where issues exist, but what behaviors are enabling or blocking progress. (Figure 1). That makes the insights easier to use—and less likely to trigger defensiveness.
Figure 1: Examples of Atana-measured behaviors that impact psychological safety.
The goal is not to replace engagement surveys, but rather to survey in a way that makes the findings contextualized and actionable—helping leaders and employees alike move from feedback to forward motion.
This approach is stronger long term. Things like the job market, economic conditions, and political winds will change. By grounding on contextualized and actionable indicators, organizations can sustain progress. Metrics that track behavior, not just sentiment, are key to that alignment.
About the Author
Amanda Hagman, Ph.D., Chief Scientist: Behavioral Data Science
Dr. Hagman is an expert in behavior change and intervention science, adept at turning data into practical solutions that drive meaningful change in workplace behaviors. With a background in program evaluation and learning analytics, she uses predictive insights to foster positive behavioral outcomes on a large scale. As head of research at Atana, Dr. Hagman integrates behavioral change principles into training courses tackling common workplace issues. Her work targeting critical behavioral goals is designed to deliver concrete and lasting improvements for organizations.
