Two thirds of workers fear burnout and believe businesses prioritise profit over people, report finds<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\nGlobal workplace engagement has declined to the lowest level since 2020, with only 20 per cent of employees worldwide considered engaged \u2013 the same level recorded in 2020.\u00a0<\/p>\n
While managers are typically more engaged than other employees, global engagement levels dropped from 31 per cent in 2022 to 22 per cent in 2025, a decline of nine percentage points.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Arne Sj\u00f6str\u00f6m, regional director in people science at employee experience platform Culture Amp, said ongoing uncertainty, constrained budgets and continual change have placed sustained pressure on workplace engagement.<\/p>\n
\u201cManagers, especially middle managers, are being squeezed from both directions. They are expected to deliver their own work, lead teams through change and translate strategy from above, often without enough support,\u201d he explained.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When manager engagement falls it becomes much harder for organisations to motivate teams and retain talent, he said: \u201cIf managers are depleted, the ripple effects are felt well beyond the manager population itself.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Overstretched leaders<\/p>\n
Carole Gaskell, founder and CEO of leadership consultancy Full Potential Group, said low engagement was not the main problem \u2013 it signalled deeper leadership issues.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAcross industries, leaders today are being asked to operate in conditions of unprecedented complexity \u2013 balancing constant change, competing priorities, rising expectations, the rapid acceleration (and threat) of AI and a workforce with ever-evolving needs,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
Gaskell said this was creating a gap between what leaders were expected to do and what they could sustainably deliver over time. \u201cWhen that gap widens, decision quality declines, execution becomes fragmented and culture turns reactive rather than intentional,\u201d she explained.\u00a0<\/p>\n
HR\u2019s role in improving engagement\u00a0<\/p>\n
While HR teams cannot solve low engagement on their own, they have a \u201ccritical role\u201d to play, Sj\u00f6str\u00f6m said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe biggest opportunity is to reduce friction around managers\u2019 workload and equip them with better processes, tools and clearer support,\u201d he explained. \u00a0<\/p>\n
This might involve using artificial intelligence more thoughtfully to support managers, while also helping leaders identify where managers are overloaded and under supported.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Gaskell advised HR teams and organisations to look at how they can build capacity in their teams and move from a culture of individual performance to one of design.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis means simplifying and prioritising demands, redesigning roles and expectations and creating space for thinking and decision making. Until this is addressed, engagement will continue to fluctuate and likely decline,\u201d she warned.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cInstead of asking \u2018how can we improve engagement?\u2019 they should ask \u2018do our people have the capacity to lead in the world we\u2019ve created?\u2019 Until that question is answered honestly, engagement will remain the symptom, not the solution.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
For more information on this topic, read the CIPD\u2019s factsheet on employee engagement and motivation<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"UK workplace engagement is 10 percentage points below the global average after dropping by seven points since 2012,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":528462,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-528461","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-kingdom","8":"tag-gb","9":"tag-great-britain","10":"tag-greatbritain","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/528461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=528461"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/528461\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/528462"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=528461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=528461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=528461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}