Report: Employee engagement hits a decade-low level as job market remains unsteady

Amid an uncertain economic outlook with no end in sight, a recent report from Gallup found that employee engagement among Americans is at its deepest nadir in a decade. Gallup’s research found that just 31% of American workers reported feeling engaged with their role and organization, the lowest figure since 2014. In addition, the data shows 17% of American employees are actively disengaged from their work.

While these numbers are certainly concerning, they aren’t necessarily a reason for communicators to despair.

Analyzing the key trends

Gallup also pointed to a few facets of engagement that saw big declines in 2024 compared against figures measured in March 2020. These included:

• Clear expectations within their role. An employee with unclear or shifting expectations may gravitate towards disengagement.
• Feeling support at work from a colleague or colleagues. Support from colleagues (especially managers) is critical in making an employee feel part of a larger function and a key piece of company culture.
• Encouraging development. The push to upskill or take on new challenges from managers and teammates is a major part of any employee’s path to ascending within an organization.

Unfortunately, the negativity is also extending to managers themselves – only 31% of managers felt engaged themselves, the survey found. However, some solutions help boost morale for both managers and their teams.

Earlier this year, we wrote about how upskilling for managers can help uplift the entire team and give teams the resources they need to succeed and feel engaged. To keep engagement at a high level among their teams, communicators should work to:

• Invest in upskilling for managers and their teams. Employees who are given the chance to grow their skills and grow within a company are more likely to stay in place and help contribute to company culture. According to research from the Chartered Management Institute, 83% of upskilled managers are confident in their abilities to lead their teams, while just 71% of untrained managers are. Giving your managers the tools and skills will help them guide teams more steadily.
• Tie your communication and training back to the larger business. Buy-in doesn’t happen by accident. When communicators champion upskilling programs, ensure that you include messaging that emphasizes how every work activity ties back to the success of the business. Likewise, managers should emphasize the importance each role plays on the team and its necessity to the functions of the organization. Doing so helps root your actions within a larger purpose and helps employees see themselves reflected in the success of the business, and that’s a sure way to bring those engagement figures up.

The economic backdrop and the generational impact

It’s easy to write off employee disengagement as a symptom of fears about the larger economy. This could stem from ongoing layoffs, return-to-office policies changing established company norms, and more. That’s certainly a factor in why people are feeling pessimistic and disengaged at work, but the larger trend doesn’t take into account “micro-conditions” that affect how employees feel daily — it simply provides a setting for them. Gallup reported that a few of the factors behind increasing disengagement included:

• Challenges from return-to-office mandates.
• Frequent organizational change.
• Shifting expectations for employees.

In addition, the research found an age-related factor in employee disengagement. The Gallup report stated that younger generations were more likely to be affected by employee disengagement, with Gen Z likely to be most disaffected within their jobs, citing a lack of recognition, a lack of resources to perform well at work and limited opportunities to upskill.

This generational data underpins the fact that to maintain a robust culture of employee engagement, communicators and managers need to customize their messaging according to the audiences they’re working with. In practice, this can include using different internal channels for different employee personas or even creating a glossary of terms to help guide you and your team in reaching certain demographics effectively.

Employee engagement is the bedrock of a robust, positive culture, and a great culture is what makes a company a good place to work. Even when things look bleak, there are always ways to reach out to your people and help them feel and perform their best at work. Doing so is a major key in making both your employees feel part of something larger than themselves and keeping the business thriving.

 Sean Devlin is an editor at Ragan Communications. In his spare time he enjoys Philly sports and hosting trivia.