By Carly Guthrie

Many founders dream of the day that their startup is ready to scale rapidly. But high-growth phases can also come with growing pains. The intense pressure to scale a business can dent employee engagement (which in turn may hurt productivity and retention) — unless you have intentional strategies in place to preserve your team culture, boost trust, and keep the team engaged in their work. 

Here are four employee engagement practices that keep teams happy and productive during rapid growth phases:

1️⃣ Founder AMA (Ask Me Anything) Sessions

Practice: Monthly, unscripted Q&A sessions between the founder(s) and employees.

Impact: In high-growth environments, transparency often gets diluted. These sessions humanize leadership, rebuild trust, and offer a direct line to strategy and culture. Employees feel heard, connected to the mission, and invested in company direction—even as headcount explodes.

2️⃣ 30-60-90 Listening Tours

Practice: New leaders or department heads spend their first 90 days meeting employees at all levels—individually or in small groups—to gather feedback before implementing change.

Impact: During scaling, new leaders are often brought in rapidly. This approach signals humility and inclusion. It builds psychological safety and prevents morale dips that typically accompany abrupt shifts in team structure or leadership.

3️⃣ “Stretch-and-Support” Role Design

Practice: Employees are offered short-term cross-functional projects outside their core role (e.g., a software engineer helping with onboarding playbook design), with mentorship support.

Impact: High-growth companies can’t always offer traditional promotion paths fast enough. These stretch opportunities keep top talent engaged, foster agility, and build a resilient internal talent pipeline without requiring immediate org redesign.

4️⃣ Real-Time Recognition Tools that include Peer Voting

Practice: Employee experience platforms like Donut have integrated recognition and rewards management capabilities, allowing employees to recognize each other in real time for values-aligned behavior. Points can be redeemed or showcased in all-hands meetings.

Impact: During rapid growth, individual contributions can feel invisible. Peer-led recognition balances leadership bandwidth while reinforcing a shared culture. It decentralizes morale boosts and creates a sense of collective ownership.