The Engagement Gap: New Enneagram Research Reveals Why Your Best Incentives Are Only Reaching Half the Team

Learn more about Truity's Enneagram at Work research: Get the free guide! 

For decades, the workplace engagement industry has operated under a persistent, albeit well-intentioned, myth: the idea that workplace motivation is a universal currency. We assume that if we provide enough “challenge,” offer a clear path for “advancement,” and provide “fair pay,” engagement will naturally follow. Management strategies are built around these pillars, often applying them as a blanket layer across entire organizations. 

But for many leaders, the reality is a frustrating disconnect. You offer your star performer a shot at leadership, expecting excitement, and they look horrified. You hand your most dedicated employee a project full of creative latitude, and two weeks later they're sinking in their chair. This is the engagement gap—the space between the incentives an organization offers and what an employee actually values.

New research from Truity suggests that this gap exists because motivation is not universal, but fundamentally fractured along personality lines. That insight alone can move a manager from “throwing spaghetti at the wall” to more individualized management, which is a key predictor of performance and engagement. 

What the Research Measured

Over 64,000 respondents completed Truity's Enneagram personality assessment and then answered follow-up questions about their job satisfaction and professional priorities. A sub-set of respondents then rated work values in two categories, based on how important they are to them: 

• Job-related work values: Autonomy, Meaning, Advancement, Connection, Challenge, Security, Creativity, Variety, Balance and Compensation. 
• Company-related work values: Good Leadership, Clear Expectations, Collaboration, Flexibility, Recognition, Impact, Fairness and Innovation.

The percentages throughout this article represent the share of each type that selected a given value. 

The results showed statistically significant differences in work values and priorities for all nine Enneagram types. The headline? Your team is not a monolith, and attempting to motivate them all the same way will leave some people consistently disengaged, even when you think you’re doing everything right. 

What is the Enneagram?

Before we look at the findings, let’s quickly recap the Enneagram system.

The Enneagram is a personality model that reveals our core motivations and fears, along with the “auto-pilot” patterns and programming we all operate with. Other popular personality frameworks like Myers-Briggs or DISC, measure what people do—who speaks up in meetings, who catches errors, who follows a plan. The Enneagram adds an extra layer of understanding by focusing on why people behave the way they do. It explains what each person is trying to get or avoid on a typical workday, and why two people with the same role, schedule and growth prospects can experience the same job in completely different ways.

Understanding this is fundamental for managers who are looking for effective ways to motivate their people. Providing key insights, the Enneagram supports workplace development by:

• Highlighting core motivations and fears so you can boost productivity by helping team members find more meaning at work.
• Improving self-awareness and emotional intelligence. 
• Reducing conflict and reactivity during times of stress or when the unexpected happens.
• Appreciating and unlocking the unique strengths of individuals and teams.
• Improving communication by understanding the motivation behind different types on the team.
• Boosting team appreciation, bonding and collaboration.

You can read more, and access Truity’s team assessment platform, on our Truity@Work Enneagram for the Workplace page. 

The Headline Findings: What Actually Drives the People You Lead?

1. Friendliness is Not a Universal Incentive

Perhaps the most striking finding in the research is how differently employees value social connection. In many organizations, “company culture” has become shorthand for the social side of work, with sustained effort going into building friendly, connected teams even as remote work and AI reshape day-to-day collaboration. 

Yet the data suggests that “Connection” is far from a universal priority.

A significant 33% of Type 2s (The Giver) selected Connection as a top value, which aligns with their focus on relationships and collaboration. Twos are motivated by being genuinely useful to others. In contrast, only 11% of Type 5s (The Investigator) did the same, marking the widest gap in the study. For Fives, the value of work tends to sit in the thinking itself—solving problems and building expertise—rather than in the surrounding social environment.

Manager’s takeaway: This 22-point gap is a useful prompt to review how much emphasis you place on mandatory social touchpoints and team rituals. What feels engaging and energizing for some employees can register as a drain on time and focus for others.

2. Not Everyone Wants to Climb the Ladder

In many corporate environments, the default reward for high performance is a promotion into a more challenging, visible role. While Type 3s (The Achiever) are naturally drawn to these markers of success, with 30% prioritizing Recognition and 27% prioritizing Compensation, the data shows that for other types, these are actually the least effective motivators. 

Type 9s (The Peacemaker) ranked lowest of all types on Advancement (9%), Challenge (14%) and Innovation (13%). For these individuals, the “reward” of a high-pressure, innovative new role is an affront to their actual priorities: Balance (36%) and Security (29%).

Type 2s also place less emphasis on Advancement (15%), tending to prioritize human impact over upward movement.

Manager’s takeaway: Offering a high-performing Type 9 a more demanding role may be the fastest way to lose them. In some cases, maintaining stability and protecting work-life balance is what allows that employee to continue performing at a high level.

3. Autonomy for Some, Structure for Others

The research highlights a clear divide between the need for structure and the desire for independence. Nowhere is this more visible than in the contrasting profiles of Type 6 and Type 8. 

Type 8s (The Challenger) are among the most self-directed members of a team, with only 16% ranking Security as a top value. Their motivation is more closely tied to Good Leadership (42%) and Autonomy (37%), and they tend to perform best when they have room to make decisions without having to ask permission for everything, under a leader they respect. 

Type 6s, by contrast, prioritize Security (35%) above all else. They want to know the ground is steady beneath them and tend to do their best work within clear structures and defined expectations.

Manager’s takeaway: Autonomy over how, when or where the work gets done is often positioned as a universal benefit, but the reality is more nuanced. An Eight may interpret personal freedom as an invitation to seize control of a team or project, while a Six may experience that same freedom as instability and may prefer the security of managerial oversight. 

These preferences also carry through into attitudes about long-term career progression. Eights prefer their high performance to be rewarded with higher-stakes roles, control, freedom and leadership. High-performing Sixes often look for stability they can see, such as a clearly defined path to progression rather than one-off rewards or risky stretch assignments. In practice, this means managers should think beyond the format of the reward and consider whether it actually increases a person’s sense of control, security or status. 

4. What Employees Don’t Want 

While managers often focus on what motivates people, the research suggests that what people do not value matters just as much, not least because it helps you avoid wasting incentive budget on rewards that will not land. 

• Type 1s value Good Leadership, Clear Expectations and Meaning in their work. They are far less motivated by Creativity and Variety, meaning new ideas carry the most weight when they improve quality or serve a clear purpose.
• Type 2s value Meaningful work, Collaboration and Connection. They are less motivated by Innovation or Advancement; what matters most is whether they can make a real difference to other people and feel that their contribution is recognized. 
• Type 3s are the least motivated by Fairness, with only 17% prioritizing it. Unlike other types who might be concerned with systemic equity, Threes are laser-focused on meritocratic rewards for their own output. 
• Type 4s are less motivated by Advancement and Connection. While they appreciate strong social bonds, their work has to feel personal, meaningful and expressive to really resonate.
• Type 5s are least motivated by Connection and Advancement. They want to solve intellectually challenging problems in innovative ways within a team that respects their independence.
• Type 6s recorded a mere 7% for Variety, the lowest single score in the study. Change for the sake of change is rarely appealing to this type.
• Type 7s value Autonomy, Flexibility and Variety. The “brainstormers” of your team are less motivated by Security and Clear Expectations, especially when those turn into too much structure.
• Type 8s deprioritize Security (16%) and Balance (22%). They are willing to work hard and take risks when they have real decision-making power.
• Type 9s value Balance, Security and Connection. They are least motivated by Advancement, Challenge and Innovation, which means big titles or high-pressure roles are usually not the strongest levers for this type.

What Managers Can Do With This Information

There are two big takeaways from this research:

• That work motivation is not universal, and operating as if it were leads to wasted effort and preventable disengagement.
• The Enneagram gives managers a practical way to understand not just what people do, but why they do it.

That “why” is where the value really lies. Two employees can look equally engaged, equally capable, equally ambitious on the surface, yet be driven by completely different needs underneath. 

The Enneagram helps managers see those differences more clearly. Every engagement strategy you employ, from coaching and work allocation to promotions and rewards programs all land better when a leader understands what is at stake for the person in front of them and can access their specific values in the conversations that matter most.