Leave us a message and we’ll get back to you in less than 24 hours.
Prefer to chat to sales?
Call us on
+44 (0) 20 805 06562
Ready to book a demo
over Zoom?
.jpg)
This page collects the most important employee engagement statistics for 2026 — drawn from Gallup, CIPD, Mental Health UK, Deloitte, and other primary sources. It is updated as major research is published. Use these figures to build the business case for engagement investment, benchmark your organisation, or inform your people strategy.
Only 20% of employees globally are engaged at work — the lowest level since 2020 and the second consecutive year of decline. (Gallup, State of the Global Workplace 2026)
64% of employees are not engaged and a further 16% are actively disengaged — meaning they are psychologically disconnected from their work and may be undermining their colleagues' efforts. (Gallup, 2026)
Low engagement costs the global economy an estimated $10 trillion in lost productivity annually — approximately 9% of global GDP. (Gallup, 2026)
No region of the world increased employee engagement in 2025. Every measured region either declined or held flat. (Gallup, 2026)
Europe is the worst-performing region in the world for employee engagement, at just 12% — below Sub-Saharan Africa (19%), East Asia (18%), and every other global region. (Gallup, 2026)
88% of UK workers say wellbeing is as important to them as their salary. (Reward Gateway, 2026)
8 in 10 employees would only consider companies that prioritise wellbeing when looking for a new job. (Reward Gateway, 2026)
UK sickness absence hit a 15-year high of 9.4 days per employee in 2024. (CIPD Health and Wellbeing at Work, 2025)
Mental health problems now cost UK employers an estimated £56 billion annually — in lost productivity, absence, and turnover.
Global manager engagement has fallen nine points since 2022 — from 31% to 22% in 2025. The largest single-year drop was from 27% to 22% between 2024 and 2025. (Gallup, 2026)
Managers used to be significantly more engaged than the people they managed — Gallup called this the “engagement premium.” That premium has now almost entirely disappeared. (Gallup, 2026)
In best-practice organisations, 79% of managers are engaged — nearly quadruple the global average of 22%. (Gallup, 2026)
45% of managers experience daily stress, compared to 39% of individual contributors. (Gallup, 2026)
Engaged managers are 14 percentage points more likely to be thriving in their overall lives than the average leader. (Gallup, 2026)
Nearly one in three UK employers admits their managers lack the time, training, or resources to meaningfully support staff mental health. (Mental Health UK, Burnout Report 2026)
Over one in three workers does not feel comfortable discussing stress with their manager — up 3 percentage points from 2025. (Mental Health UK, 2026)
Globally, only 34% of employees are thriving in their overall lives. 56% are struggling and 9% are suffering. (Gallup, 2026)
Employee wellbeing improved for the first time in three years in 2025, rising one point to 34% thriving — but remains below its 2022 peak of 35%. (Gallup, 2026)
40% of employees globally experienced a lot of stress the previous day — up from 31% in 2009. (Gallup, 2026)
In the UK, nine in ten adults experienced high or extreme levels of stress in the past year. One in five workers took time off due to poor mental health caused by stress. (Mental Health UK, Burnout Report 2026)
27% of employees who took time off due to stress or burnout received no support on their return to work. (Mental Health UK, 2026)
One in four UK employees has lost sleep over financial concerns — directly impacting concentration, attendance, and performance. (CIPD, 2025)
Hybrid workers report the highest thriving rates of any work location — 45%, compared to 33% for exclusively remote and 32% for on-site non-remote-capable workers. (Gallup, 2026)
When employees feel they have a lot of choice in how they work, they are nearly 50% more likely to say it’s a good time to find a job. (Gallup / PERSOL, 2026)
$10 trillion: The estimated annual global cost of employee disengagement in lost productivity. (Gallup, 2026)
£340 billion: Estimated annual cost of disengagement and poor workforce health to UK employers.
CIPD research suggests every £1 invested in employee wellbeing returns approximately £5 in reduced absence and turnover costs.
Replacing a skilled employee typically costs 6–9 months of that employee’s annual salary.
The manager relationship is the single most important driver of team engagement. Gallup’s framework consistently shows that how employees feel about their direct manager accounts for more variance in engagement than any other organisational factor. (Gallup, 2026)
Physical activity has a measurable positive impact on engagement and wellbeing. 70% of GoJoe participants report improved wellbeing within two weeks of joining a GoJoe programme — with 90%+ participation across the platform.
Social connection is a significant driver of both wellbeing and engagement. Gallup’s 2026 data shows 22% of global workers experience loneliness — rising among managers and leaders.
Wellbeing improves when employees see their work as intrinsically rewarding and good for others. (Gallup / Wellbeing for Planet Earth Foundation, 2026)
Exclusively remote: 30% engaged | Hybrid: 25% engaged | On-site remote-capable: 24% engaged | On-site non-remote-capable: 17% engaged. (Gallup, 2026)
Female employees are marginally more engaged globally (21%) than male employees (19%). Employees aged 35 and over are slightly more engaged (21%) than those under 35 (19%). (Gallup, 2026)
GoJoe is a preventative employee health platform that addresses the disengagement, inactivity, and social disconnection at the root of the Gallup data — through gamified health programmes, social connection features, and a rewards marketplace. Used by NatWest, Centrica, DLA Piper, and Almac Group. Talk to the GoJoe team →
According to Gallup's State of the Global Workplace 2026 Report, only 20% of employees globally are engaged at work — the lowest level since 2020. In Europe, the figure is just 12%, the lowest of any global region.
Low engagement costs the global economy an estimated $10 trillion annually in lost productivity (Gallup, 2026). In the UK specifically, mental health problems alone cost employers approximately £56 billion per year, while sickness absence hit a 15-year high of 9.4 days per employee in 2024.
Manager engagement is the single strongest predictor of team engagement. Gallup’s 2026 data shows global manager engagement has collapsed from 31% to 22% since 2022 — accounting for most of the recent fall in overall employee engagement. In best-practice organisations, 79% of managers are engaged versus the global average of 22%.
The global average is 20% engaged. Best-practice organisations achieve manager engagement rates of 79% and overall engagement significantly above regional averages. For UK organisations, any score above Europe's 12% regional average represents above-average performance, though world-class programmes typically achieve 40%+ engaged.
Gallup’s research points to three high-leverage interventions: improving manager capability and support, building genuine social connection at the team level, and giving employees meaningful autonomy over how they work. Preventative health platforms that combine gamification, social connection, and rewards — like GoJoe — address the physical health, belonging, and motivation dimensions simultaneously, delivering measurable engagement improvements within weeks.
