Employee engagement drops globally: report

The decline in engagement is largely because manager engagement fell from 30% to 27% year-over-year. 

Meanwhile, individual contributor engagement remained flat at 18%.

"Manager engagement affects team engagement, which affects productivity. Business performance — and ultimately GDP growth — is at risk if executive leaders do not address manager breakdown," says Jim Harter, Gallup's chief workplace scientist.

Six in 10 workers feel stuck in their job, according to a previous report.

Canada and U.S. drop in global rankings

In Canada and the United States, just 31% of workers are engaged, according to Gallup’s survey of 227,347 respondents, conducted April 2024 to December 2024. 

Since 2011, the U.S. and Canada region has had the highest levels of engagement worldwide.

While the engagement number in the region remains far above the national average, North America has now tied with Latin America (31%), which is now at its highest engagement rate in Gallup's trend.

Just under 1 in 5 (17%) workers in Canada and the U.S. are “actively disengaged. Meanwhile, 52% are not engaged.

Across groups, female workers are less engaged compared with their male counterparts. ALso, managers show a lower level of engagement compared with individual contributors.

Half (50%) of workers in North America also feel stress. And while more than 1 in 2 are thriving in life, 44% are struggling.

While a push for employee engagement has led to increased employee listening programs, the result – a virtual tidal wave of employee feedback – is overwhelming already strapped managers and HR professionals, according to a previous report.

How to boost engagement in the workplace?

Gallup recommends the followings actions to boost manager engagement:

1. Ensure all managers receive training to cut extreme manager disengagement in half. Manager development has declined globally in recent years, and most say they have not received any training. However, active disengagement is cut in half for those who receive training.
2. Teach managers effective coaching techniques to boost their performance. Participants in training courses focused on management best practices experienced up to 22% higher engagement than non-participants. Teams led by those participants saw engagement rise by up to 18%.
3. Increase manager thriving through ongoing development. When employers provide manager training, it improves manager thriving from 28% to 34%. However, if they have training and someone at work who actively encourages their development, manager thriving increases to 50%.

Meanwhile, Kate Heinz, product marketing manager with Built In, says the following can help employers improve employee engagement:

1. Model your core values and mission.
2. Ask for and learn from feedback.
3. Make sure your managers are engaged.
4. Set up volunteer activities.
5. Support employees’ physical and mental health.
6. Recognize and reward top performers.
7. Send frequent employee engagement surveys.

Here’s how to increase employee engagement with benefits.