A Harvard Business Review survey on employee engagement reveals huge benefits for a team that is dialed-in. It follows a review (of 263 studies) reveals that engaged employees help the bottom line by 22%. That sounds good, but how do you engage them? What’s the cost? Where do you start?

We’ll get there, but first let the numbers convince you that it’s worth your effort. Engaged employees report more than 60% greater likelihood they are going to remain at their company. What?! Your hiring costs just plummeted. What else. Better employee focus and significantly higher commitment to the task are just a few of the benefits revealed in the study. The bottom line is this: engaged employees look forward to giving their best at work, because they believe their efforts can make a difference.

“What we discovered is that people feel better and perform better and more sustainably when four basic needs are met: renewal (physical); value (emotional), focus (mental) and purpose (spiritual). This isn’t surprising news, of course. Is there any doubt that when we feel more energized, appreciated, focused and purposeful, we perform better?

You can start here: Renewal means taking a break and doing something that replenishes (NOT checking email or Facebook!). Help your employees to know they will feel better and do better work if they’ll take short walk, read a book, have a meaningful conversation—anything that takes your mind off what they were doing. Start by ensuring that your employees understand that you want them to take breaks. They are better employees when they do. Mentally fresh = more energy.

When an employee believes you Value them, they feel safer and they choose to trust you more. Valued employees don’t waste emotional energy on internal conversations defending themselves (which we all know can be exhausting!).

Can you give the gift of Focus? Absolutely! How? First teach them that Multitasking is a Lie. Create no cell, no interruption hours. How would you do this? Have fun with it! Ask a team for an impromptu 15-minute brainstorming session: 5 minutes of brainstorming, 5 minutes of selecting the top two ideas, and 5 minutes of figuring out how to implement the pilot project. Take a risk, all great companies do.

Finally, link efforts to a higher Purpose. As a leader, connect the dots to show employees how their work ultimately helps other people. Simon Sinek’s book, Start with Why is a masterpiece on connecting our what with our why. (Contact me below to receive a free two-page executive summary of the book).

The Bottom Line: Pick an area. Start small. You think that your employees love you now? You ain’t seen nothing yet!

Are you willing to try one of these? What else can you do to heighten employee engagement? Leave your comments below.