Just one in five workers around the world feels genuinely engaged and enthusiastic about their job, according to Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace: 2026 report. Based on surveys across more than 140 countries, the report found that employee engagement fell to 20% in 2025—the lowest level since 2020 and the first back-to-back annual decline since Gallup began tracking the metric.
The figure is down from a peak of 23% in 2022. While the three-percentage-point decline may appear modest, Gallup estimates that each percentage point represents roughly 21 million workers globally, meaning tens of millions fewer employees now feel psychologically invested in their work.
