Engagement levels of managers are falling rapidly
“The productivity of the world’s workforce is at risk”
This is an alarming headline from Gallup’s 2025 State of the Global Workplace report which was published a few days ago and it certainly made us stop and take a look at the findings. We thought we’d share some insights from the report with you today…
- Manager engagement fell from 30% to 27%
According to the report, no other worker demographic – male or female, youth or ageing – experienced as significant a decline. Why is this noteworthy? Because Gallup has found that what engages teams the most is their manager, so it follows that if managers are disengaged, their teams will be too. This will undoubtedly harm productivity and the bottom line.
- Global employee life evaluations fell to 33% in the last two years
What is driving this decrease in wellbeing? It seems that this too is down to Managers. The report states that older managers saw a five-percentage-point decline in wellbeing in the past year, and female managers saw a seven-percentage-point drop.
These findings provide a clear signal that managers require support in order to improve their engagement scores, and reduce the risk of declining performance across organisations.
The report recommends three key actions for leaders, as follows:
Ensure all managers receive training to cut extreme manager disengagement in half: Less than half of the world’s managers (44%) say they have received management training, and the report finds that even rudimentary training in role responsibilities can stop a manager from feeling like they are drowning.
Did you know that we run an Introduction to Management programme?
Teach managers effective coaching techniques to boost manager performance by 20% to 28%: Gallup reports that effective coaching can be taught (we agree!) A Gallup study found that participants in a manager training course focused on management best practices experience up to 22% higher engagement than non-participants. What’s more, the teams led by those participants saw engagement rise by up to 18%.
Did you know that in addition to providing coaching in a one-to-one setting, we also deliver a ‘Manager as a Coach’ programme? This provides simple, yet important, coaching techniques that are easy to embed into management practices. Get in touch for more details!
Increase manager wellbeing by 32% through ongoing manager development: Gallup states that when employers provide manager training, it improves manager thriving levels from 28% to 34%. If someone at work also actively encourages their development, manager thriving increases even further to 50%.
Have you seen our development support framework? We are huge advocates for supporting the development of all individuals and this framework has helped many of our clients ensure training is ‘sticky’. Download this free resource now!
We wholeheartedly agree with the executive summary of Gallup’s State of the Global Workforce report and invite you to read this galvanising statement from the report: “Manager engagement is the key to reversing declining productivity, improving employee wellbeing and unlocking trillions in economic potential. By redefining the role, expectations and support of managers, leaders can create an environment where managers thrive – and when managers thrive, so do their teams. The choice for executives is simple: invest in the future of management or risk the consequences of inaction.”
Read the full report here.
