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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)
The UK presenteeism rate has increased year-on-year: employees are showing up to work while unwell at record rates, directly suppressing productivity across all sectors.
GoJoe's own workforce data shows that 3 in 4 employees exceed WHO physical inactivity guidelines — the baseline from which most UK wellbeing programmes start is significantly worse than HR teams typically assume.
GoJoe clients who run year-round challenge programmes report: 18% improvement in self-reported productivity, 40% reduction in stress, 74% improvement in work-life balance, and 90%+ employee participation rates during active challenge periods.
NatWest recorded a 10% reduction in absenteeism after running GoJoe. Coutts achieved 43% workforce participation in its first challenge cycle. Hilti saw 51% of employees report improved team connection.
Lost productivity due to poor mental health cost businesses $438 billion globally in 2024. Employees who feel mentally supported are twice as likely to report no burnout or depression.
A ten-point increase in team engagement is associated with an 8.9% decrease in turnover and a 14.9% increase in productivity (Gallup research). These figures represent the financial upside that high-engagement organisations capture and low-engagement ones forfeit.
Only 20% of employees globally are engaged at work in 2026 — the lowest level since 2020 and the second consecutive year of decline (Gallup). 64% are not engaged and 16% are actively disengaged. Low engagement costs the global economy an estimated $10 trillion in lost productivity annually.
Europe is the worst-performing region in the world at just 12% engaged (Gallup 2026). UK sickness absence hit a 15-year high of 9.4 days per employee in 2024. 88% of UK workers say wellbeing is as important to them as salary (Reward Gateway, 2026).
Global manager engagement has fallen 9 points since 2022, from 31% to 22%. The management engagement premium over individual contributors has nearly disappeared. 45% of managers experience daily stress. In best-practice organisations, 79% of managers are engaged — nearly quadruple the global average.
Mental health problems cost UK employers an estimated £56 billion annually in lost productivity, absence, and turnover. UK sickness absence cost 9.4 days per employee in 2024. Globally, low engagement costs approximately $10 trillion in lost productivity per year.
The data signals three strategic priorities: manager support (engagement has collapsed fastest in the management layer), physical and mental wellbeing (40% report daily stress), and year-round engagement infrastructure rather than one-off programmes. Addressing physical inactivity is the fastest-moving lever available to most UK HR teams.
