Globally, employee engagement fell to 20%, which was the lowest level recorded since 2020 and reflected troubling changes in workplace engagement, according to the latest Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace report. It was a reduction compared to the 23% recorded in 2022 and reflected the first consecutive year-on-year decrease that the company registered recently.
However, while there was positive progress over the years, the most recent development showed increasing difficulties faced by businesses globally. According to the data, each percentage point accounted for around 21 million employees. As far as the economic implications, disengagement cost the global economy nearly $10 trillion or 9% of its GDP in 2024.
All the regions registered deterioration in terms of employee engagement, and there was no positive news anywhere. It is worth mentioning that in the case of South Asia, it amounted to a decline of five points. There are several factors contributing to this negative trend, and one of the major ones is the reduced engagement of managers, who dropped nine points since 2022, five of them only during 2025. It was the first time when managers scored on par with individual contributors in terms of their engagement level.
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Gallup’s findings also point to the growing importance of managers in shaping organizational outcomes, particularly as companies expand their use of artificial intelligence. “This report establishes a global baseline for management effectiveness in the AI era,” says Gallup CEO Jon Clifton, “Businesses are investing heavily in AI, but the results are not showing up in the bottom line. Gallup’s data points to an answer the corporate world has largely ignored: the manager.”
Meanwhile, perceptions of the job market remain relatively stable, with 52% of employees viewing it as a favorable time to seek new opportunities. However, optimism declined in regions such as the U.S., Canada, and Australia/New Zealand.
Employee wellbeing showed modest improvement, with 34% of workers classified as thriving. Despite this, elevated levels of stress and negative emotions persist, reinforcing the need for organizations to prioritize engagement as a driver of both performance and employee experience.
