Employee performance is influenced by much more than targets, reviews and incentives. Employee wellbeing, engagement, communication, recognition, workload, leadership and opportunities for growth all shape how people perform at work.

If you want to know how to improve employee performance, the strongest approach is to create the conditions that help employees stay healthy, focused, motivated and connected to their work.

This matters because workplace performance challenges can quickly become business challenges. Gallup's 2026 State of the Global Workplace report found that only 20% of employees globally were engaged in 2025, while the estimated economic cost of low engagement reached approximately $10 trillion.

For employers, particularly in fast-growing and multicultural markets such as the UAE and wider GCC, improving performance means looking beyond short-term productivity and building a workplace where people can perform sustainably.

Quick Answer: How can employers improve employee performance?

Employers can improve employee performance by setting clear expectations, supporting employee wellbeing, strengthening communication, recognizing contributions, developing managers, creating opportunities for growth, encouraging collaboration and using data to understand employee needs. The most effective approach connects performance with the wider employee experience rather than treating performance as a standalone metric.

Why Does Employee Wellbeing Affect Performance?

Employee performance and employee wellbeing are closely connected.

When employees experience persistent stress, poor work-life balance, excessive workloads or a lack of support, their ability to concentrate, collaborate and perform consistently can suffer. WHO identifies excessive workloads, low job control, job insecurity, discrimination and other poor working conditions as risks to mental health at work.

The economic impact is significant. WHO estimates that depression and anxiety result in approximately 12 billion lost working days every year, costing the global economy around US$1 trillion in lost productivity.

This does not mean wellbeing programs automatically make every employee more productive. Rather, it shows why organizations need to address the conditions that can prevent people from performing at their best.

A stronger performance strategy therefore considers the whole employee experience.

10 Strategies to Improve Employee Performance in the Workplace

1. Set Clear Goals and Expectations

Employees perform better when they understand what is expected of them.

Unclear priorities can create unnecessary work, duplicated effort and frustration. Managers should make sure employees understand:

• What they are responsible for
• What success looks like
• Which priorities matter most
• How their work contributes to wider business goals
• When progress will be reviewed

Use measurable goals where appropriate, but avoid turning every aspect of work into a number.

Regular one-to-one conversations can also help managers identify obstacles before they affect performance.

Practical action: At the beginning of each quarter or major project, agree on three to five key priorities and revisit them regularly.

2. Build a Culture of Employee Wellbeing

Performance is difficult to sustain when employees are consistently exhausted, stressed or disconnected.

A strong workplace wellbeing strategy should look beyond occasional wellness activities. It should consider the different factors that influence how employees feel and function at work.

These can include:

• Mental wellbeing
• Physical wellbeing
• Social connection
• Financial wellbeing
• Nutritional wellbeing
• Professional wellbeing

This holistic approach is important because employee challenges rarely exist in isolation.

For example, financial pressure can affect concentration. Poor sleep can affect energy. Social isolation can affect engagement. Limited career development can affect motivation.

The objective is not to remove every challenge from working life. It is to create a workplace where employees have practical support to manage those challenges.

3. Improve Communication Between Employees and Managers

Communication is one of the foundations of employee performance.

Employees need to know what is happening, why decisions are being made and where they can raise concerns.

Organizations can strengthen communication through:

• Regular one-to-one meetings
• Team check-ins
• Clear project updates
• Town halls
• Employee feedback channels
• Manager-led conversations
• Short pulse surveys

Communication should also work in both directions.

Employees should have opportunities to share feedback, identify barriers and suggest improvements. Managers should then close the loop by communicating what action will be taken.

This creates greater clarity and helps employees feel that their contribution is valued.

4. Recognize and Reward Good Performance

Recognition does not always need to mean a financial reward.

A timely thank-you, public recognition, development opportunity or meaningful feedback can reinforce positive contribution.

Effective recognition should be:

• Specific
• Timely
• Fair
• Connected to actual contribution
• Consistent across teams

Instead of simply saying, “Good job,” explain what the employee did well and why it mattered.

For example:

“Your work on the client transition reduced delays and helped the team complete the project on time.”

Specific recognition makes the connection between behaviour and business impact clear.

5. Give Employees Opportunities to Learn and Grow

Employees are more likely to remain motivated when they can see a path for development.

Professional wellbeing is one of the six interconnected wellbeing areas VIWELL focuses on, alongside physical, mental, nutritional, social and financial wellbeing.

Organizations can support development through:

• Skills training
• Mentoring
• Coaching
• Cross-functional projects
• Leadership development
• Career conversations
• Learning resources
• Internal mobility opportunities

Development should not be limited to employees identified as “high potential.”

A workplace culture that supports continuous learning can help employees build confidence while giving organizations stronger internal capabilities.

6. Give Employees the Right Level of Autonomy

Micromanagement can slow decision-making and reduce ownership.

Employees need enough autonomy to make appropriate decisions within their role.

Managers can create this by clearly defining:

• What employees can decide independently
• When approval is required
• What outcomes are expected
• Which resources are available
• When escalation is necessary

Autonomy does not mean leaving employees without support.

The goal is to give people ownership while ensuring that managers remain available when guidance is needed.

7. Strengthen Team Relationships and Belonging

Performance is not only an individual issue.

People work within teams, departments and wider organizations. Strong relationships can make collaboration easier and help employees feel connected to their workplace.

Organizations can encourage connection through:

• Team activities
• Cross-functional projects
• Peer recognition
• Community events
• Informal team conversations
• Collaborative challenges
• Shared learning experiences

This is particularly relevant for hybrid and distributed teams, where employees may have fewer opportunities for spontaneous interaction.

The objective should not be to force social activities. Instead, create different ways for people to connect that suit different personalities and working styles.

8. Create a Healthier Working Environment

The physical and digital environment can influence how people experience work.

Employers should consider factors such as:

• Workspace design
• Lighting
• Noise
• Ergonomics
• Break opportunities
• Meeting overload
• Screen time
• Remote-work conditions
• Access to appropriate equipment

A healthy environment also means examining how work itself is organized.

For example, if employees have back-to-back meetings throughout the day, simply offering a wellness activity may not address the underlying issue.

The better approach is to identify the source of the problem and make practical changes where possible.

9. Use Wellbeing and Engagement Data to Identify Problems Earlier

Organizations often wait for obvious signs such as absenteeism, turnover or poor performance before taking action.

A more proactive workforce wellbeing strategy looks for earlier signals.

Depending on the organization's approach and privacy requirements, leaders can monitor trends such as:

• Participation in wellbeing initiatives
• Engagement levels
• Employee feedback
• Program usage
• Team-level trends
• Wellbeing survey results
• Areas where additional support may be needed

Data should support better decisions, not become another layer of employee surveillance.

Privacy and trust are essential. Leaders should communicate clearly about what is being measured, why it is being measured and how information is used.

VIWELL's workplace platform, for example, provides organizations with segmented insights into participation and workforce trends rather than presenting individual-level data to leadership.

10. Make Performance Sustainable, Not Just Short-Term

A short-term performance increase is not necessarily a long-term success.

If employees achieve targets by consistently working excessive hours, skipping breaks or operating under unsustainable pressure, the organization may eventually face burnout, disengagement, absence or turnover.

Sustainable performance means helping employees maintain the capacity to perform over time.

That requires organizations to consider:

1. Workload
2. Recovery
3. Wellbeing
4. Leadership
5. Recognition
6. Development
7. Purpose
8. Team relationships
9. Employee engagement
10. Access to appropriate support

This is where employee wellbeing becomes a business strategy rather than simply an employee benefit.

What Does This Mean for UAE Employers?

The UAE provides a particularly relevant context for workplace wellbeing.

The UAE National Strategy for Wellbeing 2031 aims to improve quality of life and promotes an integrated approach to wellbeing, including healthy and active lifestyles and good mental health.

The UAE Government also highlights workplace happiness and wellbeing as important to employee engagement, productivity, trust and organizational outcomes.

For UAE and GCC employers, workplace strategies also need to reflect the reality of diverse workforces.

Organizations may have employees from different nationalities, languages, cultures, age groups and professional backgrounds. A single wellbeing activity will not necessarily work equally well for everyone.

A stronger approach can include:

• Bilingual or culturally relevant wellbeing resources
• Multiple ways to participate
• Flexible digital and in-person experiences
• Programs covering different wellbeing needs
• Support for office, site-based and remote employees
• Regular engagement measurement
• Practical manager support

This is particularly important for organizations operating across multiple locations or countries in the GCC.

How Should Employers Measure Employee Performance Improvements?

Improving employee performance requires more than looking at productivity numbers.

Organizations should establish a combination of performance, engagement and wellbeing indicators that make sense for their business.

Possible measures include:

Area - Examples

Performance - Goal achievement, quality, project completion

Productivity - Output, efficiency, time to completion

Engagement - Participation, employee feedback, engagement scores

Wellbeing - Wellbeing assessments, participation trends, reported needs

Retention - Turnover, retention and internal mobility

Attendance - Absence patterns and relevant workforce trends

Development - Training participation and skill progression

The exact measures should depend on the organization, role and business model.

The key is to avoid treating one metric as a complete representation of employee performance.

For example, high output combined with rising burnout risk may indicate that performance is being achieved in an unsustainable way.

How VIWELL Can Support Your Workplace Wellbeing Strategy

Improving employee performance is not simply about asking employees to work harder. It is about creating an environment where people have the support, clarity, energy and engagement needed to perform sustainably.

VIWELL's workplace wellbeing platform brings together an employee wellbeing app, employer dashboards and real-world activation to support organizations across the employee experience.

VIWELL's current workplace offering includes health assessments, daily check-ins, wellbeing content, Arabic support, challenges and access to professional support. Its employer dashboard provides visibility into participation, engagement trends and areas where additional support may be needed.

The platform is built around six interconnected areas of wellbeing:

• Physical
• Mental
• Social
• Nutritional
• Financial
• Professional

This reflects VIWELL's broader approach to wellbeing: supporting the whole employee rather than treating workplace wellness as a single activity.

VIWELL also connects digital experiences with real-world events, group challenges and team activities, helping organizations move from isolated initiatives toward an ongoing wellbeing experience.

For organizations that want to move from ad-hoc wellness activities toward a more structured employee wellbeing platform, this integrated approach can provide a stronger foundation for engagement and sustainable performance.

Ready to build a stronger workplace wellbeing strategy?

Explore VIWELL's workplace wellbeing solution or speak with the VIWELL team about your organization's wellbeing goals.