Employee Engagement Is Declining - Part 1

Employee Engagement Is Declining.

In a rapidly changing world, employee engagement is critical. The faster things change the less that you, the leader, can physically control. You naturally become more dependent on your team to create results.

What happens, though, when the people on your team becomes less engaged?

That’s the situation we face across the United States today. Employee engagement is declining, and The Gallup 2025 US Employee Engagement Update by Dr. Jim Harter provides eye opening details about why. In 2024 employee engagement hit the lowest point in a decade, particularly among workers younger than 35. Here are highlights from the report.

Only 31% of employees responded that they were engaged. This matches the figure last seen in 2014. The percentage of actively disengaged employees, at 17%, also reflects 2014 levels.

The percentage of engaged employees has declined by two percentage points since 2023, highlighting a growing trend of employee detachment from organizations, particularly among workers younger than 35.

The declines since 2020 equate to about 8 million fewer engaged employees, including 3.2 million fewer compared to 2023.

What is more troubling were the top three reasons for employee disengagement.

Among the 12 engagement elements that Gallup measures, those that saw the most significant declines in 2024 include:

• Clarity of expectations. Just 46% of employees clearly know what is expected of them at work, down 10 points from a high of 56% in March 2020.
• Feeling someone at work cares about them as a person. Currently, 39% of employees feel strongly that someone cares about them, a drop from 47% in March 2020.
• Someone encouraging their development. Only 30% strongly agree that someone at work encourages their development, down from 36% in March 2020.

Another troubling pattern in the Gallup survey results is that managers are also becoming more disengaged.

Managers themselves are faring no better than those they manage, with only 31% engaged.

(https://www.gallup.com/workplace/654911/employee-engagement-sinks-year-low.aspx)