Moving the Needle on Employee Engagement

According to Gallup, $9.6 trillion in productivity would be added to the economy if the global workforce were fully engaged. Here are some strategies that can help.

Global employee engagement fell two points to 21 percent last year, with lost productivity costing the global economy $438 billion, according to Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace report. Manager engagement, in particular, fell from 30 percent to 27 percent in 2024, with young managers and female managers experiencing the largest declines. As the Gallup report notes, “if managers are disengaged, their teams are, too—70 percent of team engagement is attributable to the manager.”

People Insight’s 2025 Employee Engagement Trends reports similar results, showing that engagement levels in the UK have declined again, falling from 80 percent in 2023 to 78 percent in 2024. Among the factors influencing this decline, says Kate Pritchard, head of Consultancy at People Insight, “leadership perceptions have suffered the sharpest drop, overtaking reward as the lowest-scoring element of engagement. Leadership has always been a huge driver of employee engagement. Senior leaders set the tone for the organization, shape its culture, and determine how connected employees feel to their work. However, the latest data indicates that employees are increasingly dissatisfied with how their leaders communicate, listen, and provide direction.”

Keying into this spotlight on employee engagement in this month’s special focus online issue of Trainingmagazine, Pritchard reveals 5 key strategies that can help rebuild trust, motivation, and commitment in “Data Shows Leadership Is Slipping–And so Is Employee Engagement.”

Employee engagement, professional and talent development, and a supportive work environment are just some of the ways to minimize the risk of employees resigning due to a toxic workplace, adds Online DISC Profile’s Adam Stamm, who details seven strategies to boost employee morale, productivity, and retainment in “How Employee Engagement and Talent Development Can Drive Retention.” These strategies include: Get to know your employees, recognize and reward contributions, create a feedback-rich culture, and communicate around stress and motivation.

Taking Engagement to the Next Level

LearnLogic CEO Nicholas Webb points out that most organizations mistakenly treat engagement as an outcome to pursue when it’s actually a byproduct of what he says is something far more important: the Human Experience (HX) inside the enterprise. “Engagement doesn’t create culture,” Webb asserts. “Culture creates engagement.” He says today’s best leaders and organizations realize that in order to foster meaningful engagement, “they need to focus on how employees actually experience their work. This approach requires more than annual employee satisfaction surveys or teambuilding exercises. It demands a strategic, intentional design of what I call Human Experience Innovation (HXI). When leaders understand what employees love and hate about their work, they can systematically design work environments that increase job satisfaction and presenteeism, improve productivity, and create a far higher return on human capital through major improvements and experiential value.” Webb identifies five critical touch points that shape the employee experience in “Beyond Employee Engagement: The New Science of Human Experience Innovation.”

A workplace needs to provide employees with purpose, control, and fairness, believes Harri CEO Luke Fryer. “When employers meet those expectations, they earn loyalty, stronger teams, and better performance.” Fryer believes that what’s needed today are “strategies that support the entire employee journey, not just quick fixes.” In “Frontline Loyalty Starts Here: 5 Strategies that Work,” he stresses that an effective retention strategy rests on five foundational pillars: flexibility, development, experience, well-being, and technology.

AI & EQ

With artificial intelligence (AI) invading every aspect of business these days, organizations must not forget the importance of emotional intelligence (EQ) as a critical leadership skill to help sustain employee engagement, writes GreenMediaPost Editor Ela Buruk in “Beyond AI: Why EQ Defines Future Business Success.” “Leaders who combine EQ with technological proficiency don’t merely install AI,” she explains. “They build ecosystems that empower employees emotionally and professionally, fostering a deeper sense of belonging and creativity. Organizations that emphasize EQ alongside AI-driven processes tend to experience higher employee satisfaction, loyalty, and emotional engagement. Unlike AI, emotionally intelligent teams naturally build authentic connections and establish a work ethic based on mutual respect, understanding, and meaningful communication. These attributes are not just desirable, they’re indispensable in driving sustained organizational health and success.”

$9 Trillion Reason to Boost Engagement

Social entrepreneur Marcy Syms, former CEO of Syms Corp., has noticed a troubling new trend she calls “quiet cracking,” a subtle erosion of morale and motivation. “Employees begin to feel a slow emotional detachment from work over time,” she explains in “How Respect-Based Leadership Can be the Antidote to ‘Quiet Cracking.’” “Not only are they not enjoying their work anymore, but they aren’t showing up with 100 percent of their best selves. Employees may still show up, log in, and complete tasks, but the spark is gone. Their sense of purpose, pride, and connection becomes diminished or disappears entirely.”

She believes the solution lies in respect-based leadership, offering tips such as:

  • Make listening a daily practice.
  • Recognize effort, not just results.
  • Democratize decision-making.
  • Invest in people, not just perks.

“Every percentage point of disengagement equals dollars in lost productivity, innovation, and employee development,” Syms says. Indeed, according to Gallup, $9.6 trillion in productivity would be added to the economy if the global workforce were fully engaged.

That’s a pretty good argument for doing everything possible to maximize employee engagement.

How are you leveling up employee engagement in your organization? Please share how you are you are engaging and empowering your employees to reach their peak performance and potential by applying for our 2026 Training MVP Awards—which recognize excellence in employee training and development. The deadline to apply is September 2, 2025.

To download the 2026 application and the quantitative and qualitative scoring guidelines, please visit:

https://MVPawards.trainingmag.com/

Lorri Freifeld
Lorri Freifeld is the editor/publisher of Training magazine. She writes on a number of topics, including talent management, training technology, and leadership development. She spearheads two awards programs: the Training MVP Awards and Emerging Training Leaders. A writer/editor for the last 30-plus years, she has held editing positions at a variety of publications and holds a Master’s degree in journalism from New York University.