The State of Employee Engagement

According to Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace 2025 report, global engagement fell in 2024, costing the world economy $438 billion in lost productivity.

Employee engagement reflects how involved and enthusiastic employees are in their work and the workplace, according to the study. It also reflects how connected and committed your employees are to their work, team, and organization. The more engaged your employees are, the higher their productivity and satisfaction will be, leading to increased business success.

B2B Reviews researched the latest employee engagement statistics to help company leaders and managers understand the current workplace, enabling them to make informed decisions to better their business and work culture.

Employee Engagement Statistics in 2025

As of 2025, the latest data shows that global employee engagement is at 21%, which is a drop from previous years. In the United States, engagement is at 31%.

However, a study by DHR Global found that 47% of desk-based employees are extremely engaged at work, while 41% are very engaged at work. When asked further:

• 67% of respondents said that the tighter job market increased their engagement.
• 61% claimed job insecurity as their motivation to stay engaged at work.

Rather than feeling engaged due to a positive work environment, it appears that many workers throughout the world are more engaged due to unease about the shifting job market.

Where an employee is working also impacts engagement levels.

• 59% of on-site workers are extremely engaged.
• 41% of hybrid workers are extremely engaged.
• 33% of remote workers are extremely engaged.

A more engaged workforce benefits your business. According to a report by People Element, a highly engaged workforce sees:

• 68% higher well-being
• 64% fewer accidents
• 43% lower turnover rates
• 43% less absenteeism
• 18% higher sales
• 14% higher productivity

As more companies recognize the importance of employee morale, nearly 48% of businesses are shifting their focus from development to productivity and engagement.

The employee experience plays an important role in employee retention and workplace culture. It’s affected by employee satisfaction, sense of purpose, and growth opportunities.

Unfortunately, many workers lack positive work experiences, leading to higher levels of disengagement:

• Only 37% of workers feel that they have the materials and equipment needed to do their work right, which has dropped from 41% in 2021.
• Only 29% of workers have received recognition or praise for doing good work in the last week.
• Only 28% of workers feel their opinions matter at work.
• In the last year, only 32% of workers had opportunities to learn and grow at work.

Gallup found that when managers are better trained and encouraged, companies see higher levels of employee engagement.

• Managers who took a training course that focused on management best practices experienced up to 22% higher engagement.
• Manager performance metrics improved between 20 to 28%.
• Teams led by those managers saw engagement increase by up to 18%.

The study noted that these results were seen nine to 18 months after training. Providing this training:

• Improves manager thriving levels from 28% to 34%.
• With active encouragement and development, manager thriving increases to 50%.

If the global workforce was fully engaged, Gallup estimates that $9.6 trillion in productivity could be added to the global economy, the equivalent of 9% in global GDP.

Unfortunately, a 2025 report by Flex Jobs found that 27% of employees are less loyal to their employer now than they were before the pandemic. And 50% of the global workforce plans to find, or is actively seeking, new employment.

This disengagement and lower loyalty can be attributed to the disruption organizations have experienced over the last five years, including:

• Post-pandemic retirements and turnover.
• Shrinking budgets as stimulus programs ended.
• Rapidly restructured teams and departments.
• New customer expectations.
• Digital transformation and AI tools.

Additionally, only 46% of employees clearly understand what is expected of them—down 10 points from 56% in March 2020.

Similarly, workers younger than 35, Gen Z employees in particular, were five points less engaged than the year before due to declines in:

• Clarity in expectations
• Employee recognition
• Materials and equipment to do their work well
• Opportunities to “do what they do best”
• Feeling cared about
• Development opportunities

These areas are some of the fundamental engagement elements, according to the Gallup study, and as they decline, companies are finding more and more disengaged employees.

Even for highly engaged employees, this declining sense of belonging can lead to burnout. A study by the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence found that 1 in 5 employees (20%) were highly engaged yet still at risk of burnout.

However, 80% of workers feel that learning new skills can help increase engagement at work, according to a study by Udemy.

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash

Declining Engagement Levels

In 2024, global engagement fell from 23% to 21%. In fact, engagement has fallen twice in the past 12 years, in 2020 and 2024. Gallup reflects on how this drop reflects the trend of employee detachment from organizations, particularly among workers younger than 35.

According to the study, each percentage point change in engagement equals approximately 1.6 million full- or part-time U.S. employees.

• The change since 2023 equals 3.2 million fewer engaged employees.
• Since 2020, it equals approximately 8 million fewer engaged employees.

Other factors that have seen a decline include employee well-being and career development.

• In 2011, 60% of employees in the U.S. and Canada were thriving, but this dropped to 52% in 2024.
• In March 2020, 47% of employees felt strongly that someone cared about them at work, but this fell to 39% in 2024.
• Currently, only 30% strongly agree that someone at work encourages their development, which fell from 36% in March 2020.

Engagement Data by Gender

Employee engagement differs slightly between men and women, based on findings from the Gallup employee engagement survey. In North America, a higher percentage of women are more engaged at work; however, they also report increased mental health problems, such as higher feelings of stress, anger, and loneliness.

• 34% of women report feeling engaged, compared to only 29% of men.
• 52% of women feel they’re thriving at work, while 53% of men do.
• 18% of women report feeling daily anger, while 17% of men report the same.
• 25% of women report daily sadness, compared to 19% of men.
• 16% of women say they feel lonely daily, while 14% of men said the same.
• 56% of women feel that it’s a good time for the job market, compared to 58% of men.
• 48% of women reported their intent to leave their job, while 51% of men reported their intention to leave.

Engagement Data by Gender

Below, we compare global engagement percentages with those from the North American region, including the United States and Canada.

* Data sourced from Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace 2025 Report

Engagement by Industry

Different industries have different engagement levels, according to Effectory’s Global Employee Engagement Index, with Marine & Offshoring having the highest levels of engagement at 52.5% and Telecommunications having the lowest at 29.2%.

• Marine & Offshoring—52.5%
• Information Technology (IT)—50.4%
• Legal—46.3%
• Financial services—44.0%
• Construction—42.3%
• Agriculture—40.8%
• Education—40.3%
• Government—40.0%
• Business services—38.8%
• Healthcare—38.4%
• Engineering—37.2%
• Media & entertainment—36.3%
• Retail—33.8%
• Social services—33.2%
• Transport & distribution—32.2%
• Other—32.0%
• Production—31.6%
• Services (e.g., catering)—29.4%
• Telecommunication—29.2%

Additionally, the size of a company correlates to how engaged employees are. Surprisingly, the smaller the company, the lower the engagement. Organizations with 501 to 1,000 employees have the highest engagement levels. However, larger companies see more employee disengagement.

Number of employees and engagement:

• 10,000+ employees—38.2% engagement
• 5,001 and 10,000 employees—37.1% engagement
• 1,001 and 5,000 employees—39.2% engagement
• 501 and 1,000 employees—43.4% engagement
• 100 and 500 employees—36.9% engagement
• Less than 100 employees—34.3% engagement

Drivers of Employee Disengagement

As mentioned above, the years following the pandemic caused disruption across organizations at every level. We’ve seen:

• Post-pandemic retirements and employee turnover
• New customer expectations
• Rapidly restructured teams and departments
• A push for AI and digital tools
• Shrinking budgets
• New employee desires for flexible work and remote or hybrid work
• Broken performance management practices

These changes have led to actively disengaged employees in the workplace. Additionally, economic instability is the top threat to workforce wellbeing in 2025, according to an HR Trends Report by McLean & Company.

Flex Jobs asked U.S. employees what factors caused them to quit or consider quitting.

• 69% cited toxic company culture.
• 60% said they felt disrespected or undervalued at work.
• 57% cited poor work-life balance.
• 56% cited low or unfair pay.

Additionally, workers with rigid schedules are 2.5x as likely to “definitely” look for another job within a year, according to a Future Forum report.

Burnout is another issue that leads to disengagement. The same report says that employees who are burned out are 3.4x as likely to “definitely” look for a new job within the year.

A study by People Element shares that people who’ve experienced burnout in the last year are:

• 36% more likely to have lower morale
• 30% more likely to be less engaged
• 27% more likely to make more mistakes
• 25% more likely to leave the company

Overall, stressors from the economy, negative work culture, heavy workload, and rapidly changing organizational structures are some of the leading causes of employee disengagement.

Drivers of Employee Engagement and Retention

According to Qualitrics, North American employees are more likely to stay if they:

• Can meet career goals.
• Work aligns with values.
• Receive fair pay.
• Get benefits that meet their needs.
• Believe the company has an outstanding future.

An Edelman report states that 82% of employees would only consider a job if offered training to keep skills up to date. Similarly, McLean & Company reports that:

• 52% of new hires and 48% of existing employees claim career advancement opportunities as a primary reason for changing jobs.

Data suggests that the ability to grow and maintain skills is a top reason workers will accept and stay at a job. Other engagement drivers include fair pay and treatment, recognition, clear communication, and job satisfaction.

Bottom Line

High employee engagement leads to increased productivity, profitability, customer satisfaction, and retention of top talent.

While engagement rates have seen a decline in recent years, strong leaders and managers can combat declining engagement by implementing these employee engagement strategies:

• Define workplace culture and how it impacts business outcomes and customer experience.
• Create plans to upskill managers, which will lead to engaged teams and stronger bonds between employees.
• Offer clear priorities, ongoing employee feedback, accountability, recognition, and communication.

Companies seeking to improve engagement should focus on creating initiatives for career development, recognition programs, health and wellness programs, and improving internal communication.

Fair Use Statement

If you found this information insightful, feel free to share the report for non-commercial purposes, but be sure to include a link back to this page so readers can access the full data.