According to the latest Employee Engagement Trends Report 2026 by McLean & Company, while employee engagement levels haven’t changed in 2025, the fundamental problems in the workplace that continue to hold back the organizational performance are finding recognition. Based on more than 254,000 employees, across 240 organizations, participation in the study, the report brings up an increasing gap between stable engagement scores and those factors that help in sustaining long-term productivity and retention.
On the one hand, 79.7% of workers mention that they are quite sure that they will be working with their present employer at least over the next one year. Not only that, the number has gone up from 77.5% in 2024 to 79.7% in 2025. On the other hand, the important things like compensation, growth at work, and willingness to work with others still don’t show much development. Overall compensation is still the least-favored factor by employees at 52%, whereas career development opportunities are at 58.3% and are still considered a significant factor for employee turnover.
Besides, the report reveals that tension at work is increasing. About 40% of the workforce say that the stress coming from work has been rising. Furthermore, only 23% of employees consider their leaders to be quite strong in guiding and coaching them. Cooperation among various departments and the resultant communication have also been levelled out, with the scores remaining at 54% since 2022, which is an indicator of communication difficulties still persisting.
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Despite these challenges, the report underscores the business value of a strong employee experience. Organizations that excel in this area are 2.3 times more likely to achieve higher workforce productivity and 1.9 times more likely to meet strategic objectives. However, researchers caution that maintaining engagement without improving its core drivers could limit future gains.
“Employee engagement may be stable, but stability can be misleading,” says Amanda Chaitnarine, senior director, Human Resources Diagnostics, at McLean & Company. “Without strengthening the core drivers behind engagement, organizations risk plateauing performance instead of improving it. HR leaders need to move beyond measurement and focus on targeted action.”
The report suggests that the HR executives focus on such initiatives that affect employee experiences, such as better clarity about career growth paths, better compensation programs, better collaboration among different teams, and improved coaching of their employees. Organizations will find it difficult to achieve results from the stability of engagement without addressing these issues.
