While average employee engagement is disappointingly low, engagement is higher in best practice organizations.

Manager/leader work-related stress is very high and may be a big part of the overall engagement problem.

U.S. workers report high job stress, yet show better engagement than workers in other regions.

Every year, the Gallup organization surveys workers worldwide on the topics of employee engagement and well-being. This report is just out, and the results are especially important given the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) in the workplace.

According to the Gallup survey, there has been a steady decline in employee engagement since the year 2020. Only 20 percent of workers say that they are engaged in their jobs, with 16 percent saying they are “actively disengaged.”

While the average employee engagement is extremely low, in organizations identified as “best practice” companies, 79 percent of managers were engaged, as compared to about only one-third in typical organizations. What constitutes “best practice” organizations? They give serious attention to their core business mission, have strong leadership development programs, and are greatly concerned with promoting employee well-being.

Looking at workers who frequently use AI in their work, a big part of AI’s benefits are related to managers’/leaders’ support for using AI technology, allowing employees to experiment with AI in their jobs, with the organization providing clear guidelines and policies for using AI at work. It is possible that part of the low engagement of employees comes from concerns that they will either be replaced by AI/technology or that they will be unable to keep up with the effective use of AI.

Also, in the Gallup research, only one-third of employees experience well-being at work. Well-being at work is dependent on workers finding their work satisfying and rewarding, as well as their being able to see meaning in the work that they do.

Looking separately at managers/leaders, employees in supervisory positions are more engaged in their jobs than line workers. Unfortunately, managers/leaders also report experiencing greater amounts of stress than do individual contributors.

Overall, 40 percent of all workers report experiencing job stress. Nearly two-thirds of workers say that in their lives they are either “struggling” or “suffering,” with only one-third reporting “thriving.”

The Gallup survey is international, and there are important country and region differences. For instance, workers in the U.S. seem to be doing slightly better than workers in other regions of the world in terms of job engagement, but they are also the most likely to report job stress.

What Could Make Things Better

Greater support by managers/leaders for employees, as well as providing strategies to assist managers in dealing with work stress.

Ongoing training for employees in relevant, new technologies, such as AI, so that they can have a sense of mastery.

Attention given to the shared mission of the organization and how employees contribute to it.

Greater attention to employee well-being, in general.

The Gallup report can be found here.

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