Global employee engagement hit 20% in 2025, its lowest level since 2020, according to Gallup’s 2026 State of the Global Workplace report. The decline cost the world economy approximately $10 trillion in lost productivity, or 9% of global GDP.
This marks the first time engagement has fallen for two consecutive years. In 2022 and 2023, engagement peaked at 23%, but has dropped 3 percentage points over the past two years, signaling a sustained shift in how employees connect to their work.
The decline is being driven primarily by managers, whose own engagement fell from 31% in 2022 to 22% in 2025—a 9-point drop that accounts for most of the recent downturn. South Asia experienced the steepest regional decline, with manager engagement plummeting 8 points and overall engagement falling 5 points, as employers cut mid-level and senior roles, possibly driven in part by AI adoption.
Why Engagement Is Crumbling
Workplace systems—not people—are the root cause, according to organizational analysis. A frozen job market, where few employees are leaving, has made visible what was previously masked by turnover: 80% of the global workforce is now disengaged, yet staying in place.
Multiple factors are converging. Manager burnout tops the list, as people responsible for creating conditions for others are themselves checked out. AI disruption, restructurings, return-to-office mandates, and economic uncertainty are piling on. Forbes contributor Aparna Rae noted that organizations are treating engagement as a people problem when it’s actually a systems problem—addressing symptoms with training and employee assistance programs while leaving root causes untouched.
The evidence shows that psychological safety, clear expectations, and leadership behaviors determine whether employees thrive or quietly burn out. When employees feel they have choice in what work they do, they are nearly 50% more likely to say it’s a good time to find a job, according to Gallup’s latest analysis. Yet most organizations haven’t built the foundational conditions for this sense of agency.
However, the decline is not inevitable. Within best-practice organizations, 79% of managers were engaged at work in 2025—nearly quadruple the global average. These world-class workplaces span all regions and industries and prioritize employee engagement as part of long-term business strategy, proving that high engagement remains achievable at scale.
Sources
- Gallup — State of the Global Workplace 2026 report; engagement figures for 2025, cost to global economy, manager engagement trends, regional data, and best-practice organization benchmarks
- Forbes — Analysis of systemic workplace issues driving disengagement and the role of organizational design versus individual performance
