Few concepts in the HR lexicon have been as overused—to such modest results—as employee engagement.

Every HR leader knows about engagement. Yet the term remains as slippery as ever.

According to a Gallup poll in early 2015, less than one-third (31.5%) of U.S. workers were engaged in their jobs in 2014. A majority of employees (51%) were "not engaged" and an added 17.5% were "actively disengaged,” bringing the total unengaged workers to a scary 68.5%.

After teaming up with Oracle to try and get some answers, the folks at the Human Capital Institute (HCI), a global association for strategic talent management, believe they have a a good idea why engagement remains elusive. In short, HCI’s research found that employers focusing too much on data and not enough on implementing effective change negates the entire employee engagement effort.

“Despite best intentions, it’s apparent that many organizations rely on sharing the data among their management ranks rather than sharing the data in concert with making recommendations for meaningful change,” says Jenna Filipkowski, director of research for HCI.

HCI surveyed its member network—which includes expert practitioners, Fortune 1000 and Global 2000 corporations, government agencies, global consultants, and business schools—from April 16 to May 6 of this year. It distributed via e-mail a 20-question survey to members and promoted the survey on HCI’s social media channels and website. HCI received 327 completed questionnaires which led to its report, “More than a Number: Agile and Actionable Employee Engagement Measurement.”

Key takeaways include:

• 93% agree that high employee engagement is critical to business success.

• 67% of HR practitioners are concerned about low engagement.

• Finally, despite this recognition, more than 40% of organizations still believe that they have more accurate, timely insights into the satisfaction of their consumers than of their employees.

Filipkowski explains that in its research report, HCI focused on the challenges of measuring engagement and taking action with the data collected. In addition, it prescribes and describes a number of strategies to boost employee engagement, such as recognition and feedback.

“The biggest challenges in measuring employee attitudes/engagement are translating that feedback into meaningful, positive change for the organization, and the lengthy time periods between data collection and action,” Filipkowski says. “HR leaders want real-time insight into their workforces and the agility to make changes as needed.”

She adds that it’s common knowledge that employee engagement is correlated with many positive outcomes, such as decreased absenteeism, lower turnover, higher productivity, and increased safety at work. Yet, employers can’t seem to move the engagement needle.

According to Filipkowski, HCI is seeing a shift from direct, self-report measurement of employee engagement to more indirect, frequent methods. While not many organizations do it now, the use of sentiment analysis of employee communications is expected to rise in the next three years. In fact, more than half of respondents (54%) plan to measure employee engagement and attitudes toward work more frequently.

“The annual engagement survey is just not good enough,” she says. “HR leaders want access to on-demand workforce intelligence.

“Employee engagement data informs business and talent strategy for one-third of organizations surveyed,” Filipkowski adds. “Leaders must ask: ‘what is the purpose? What is the plan of action after we see the results? What changes can be made?’ ” 

To obtain the full HCI report, visit here (registration is free).