Top 10 employee engagement statistics
Updated: Aug 18
On average, we spend 3,515 days at work, just under ten years. Gallup
An engaged workforce can increase productivity, job satisfaction, sales, and revenue. When we're genuinely engaged in our work, we go the extra mile, not because we have to, but because we want to.
So here's a question worth sitting with: are you doing everything you can to build employee engagement in your organisation?
Below you'll find 10 employee engagement statistics that make the case, and 12 practical strategies to act on it.
Contents
What is employee engagement?
According to a Forbes article, the definition of employee engagement is:
The emotional commitment the employee has to the organisation and its goals.
Crucially, engagement goes beyond being happy or satisfied at work. Those are nice but not sufficient. What matters is whether people are emotionally invested in the organisation's goals, not just their own paycheck or next promotion.
Engaged employees are emotionally committed to the organisation and its goals. They don't work just for money or the next promotion, but on behalf of the organisation's goals and are willing to put in discretionary effort to help the company succeed.
Employee engagement and remote working
There is an ongoing debate among leaders and organisations with remote-capable employees about which work setup is better: fully remote, hybrid, or fully on-site.
Getting everyone back in the office five days a week may not be the answer. A 2025 KPMG survey finds that:
83% of CEOs of large companies ($500m+ revenue) expect a full return to the office within the next three years.
However, as reported by Forbes:
73% of Amazon employees are considering quitting as a response to a return-to-office (RTO) mandate.
And there is a gender impact among these mandates, with flexibility and work/life balance key to retaining women.
A Deloitte survey found that:
Over 40% of women surveyed reported their employer had recently mandated an RTO
Of those, 25% are required to be on-site full time
As a result, 30% say they have had to relocate, just over a quarter (26%) say it's negatively impacted their mental health and 20% report decreases in productivity.
And flexible working comes with its own challenges for women.
A lack of flexible working hours is one of the top reasons (15%) women have changed jobs over the past year.
95% of women surveyed believe requesting or taking advantage of flexible working opportunities will negatively affect their chances of promotion. Deloitte
While 93% don't expect their workload would be adjusted if they moved to a flexible working arrangement.
Each setup has its own challenges and benefits. Remote work offers flexibility and removes commuting stress, but it can also lead to feelings of isolation, blurred boundaries, and reduced connection to team culture. Hybrid can be the best of both, when it's done well.
And it's not the only piece of the puzzle. According to Gallup's analysis:
Employee engagement has a 3.8 times greater influence on employee stress than work location. Gallup
Leadership development and employee engagement
Employees' feelings about their jobs are heavily influenced by their relationship with their manager, regardless of whether they work remotely or on-site. Inclusive and engaged leadership, delivered through leadership coaching, offers a strong approach and a powerful catalyst for growth.
Employee engagement factors in decline
Gallup found engagement factors with the steepest declines were:
Clarity of expectations. People can't do their best work if they don't know what's expected of them.
Connection to the company's mission or purpose. Without a sense of meaning, engagement quickly becomes clock-watching.
Opportunities to learn and grow. Stagnation is one of the fastest routes to disengagement.
Opportunities for employees to do their best. People want to contribute their strengths, not just fill a role.
Feeling like someone cares about you at work. The most underrated driver of all.
Top 10 employee engagement statistics
Globally, only 20% of employees are engaged.
Low engagement costs the global economy $10 trillion.
Organisations with an engaged workforce are 23% more profitable.
Employees who feel heard are 4.6 times more likely to feel empowered to perform their best work.
Highly engaged business units achieve a 10% increase in customer ratings.
Highly engaged business units in high-turnover businesses have 21% less employee turnover, while low-turnover businesses have 51% less employee turnover.
Organisations prioritising diversity, equity, and inclusion experience 3.2 times more engaged employees.
Highly engaged teams saw 78% lower absenteeism.
The direct line manager determines 70% of team engagement.
83% of millennials are actively engaged at work when they believe their organisation's culture is inclusive.
Top 12 employee engagement strategies
Here's what actually moves the needle:
Start with data: Measure employee engagement and take proper action - fruit bowls and yoga are not enough.
Develop your leaders: 82% of managers entering management have not received any leadership development training. Managers and leaders play a crucial role in driving engagement and performance. Also, the 2026 State of the Global Workplace report by Gallup revealed that a decline in managers' engagement significantly contributed to the recent decline in employee engagement.
Provide career growth opportunities: Offering employees opportunities for career advancement, mentorship, professional development, and choice assignments can enhance engagement.
Creating a culture of learning: Promoting continuous learning and development for employees can boost engagement and motivation.
Recognise employees: Acknowledging and appreciating employees' efforts and contributions through leaders' praise and recognition programmes can increase engagement.
Communicate the vision: Encourage transparent communication and clearly connect work with the company vision. We all want to know our work has a purpose.
Offering meaningful work: Providing employees with challenging, purposeful work aligned with their values can increase engagement and motivation.
Build an inclusive company culture: Cultivating an inclusive culture based on shared values, driving diversity, equity, and inclusion, can increase engagement through flexible work policies, reverse mentoring, ERGs, and inclusive leadership.
Align and empower employees: Communicate the vision and give employees autonomy, decision-making authority, and the resources they need to succeed.
Build inclusive work policies: Support employees through flexible work arrangements, wellness programs, and mental health initiatives that can improve engagement.
Embrace Radical Candor: Establishing a feedback culture where bosses and employees receive feedback. Get intentional about how you do this with frameworks such as Radical Candor.
Make collaboration work better: Encouraging collaboration is not enough; support employees to collaborate better - no one wants to be on Zoom all day.
💡 Tip: Looking for more data? Check out our Leadership development statistics 2026 and Top 80 workplace culture statistics.
🤔 Reflective question: Looking at those 12 strategies, which one would have the biggest impact in your team right now, and what's stopping you from starting this week?
Sources
Ready to build a more engaged, high-performing team?
