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In 2025, employee engagement had dropped to 20%, the lowest it’s been since the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
This number, taken from Gallup’s 2025 State of the Global Workplace report, is striking enough alone, but it becomes even more concerning when you look at its costs: disengaged teams with an underperformance in productivity, profitability, and retention.
So why is engagement falling, even as organizations are investing more in their people than ever before?
The answer isn’t a lack of effort, it’s a mismatch between the tools we’re using and the world we are working in.
The current pace of change has fundamentally altered how teams function. Hybrid work dissolves informal touchpoints that once fostered trust, constant reorganization and shifting priorities make it hard for individuals to feel grounded in their roles, and AI is reshaping what skills we need to focus on.And managers, who are already stretched thin, are asked to lead through this complexity without tools catered towards matters most in this time, communication.
Engagement isn’t a sign that people have stopped caring, it’s signaling that the connective tissue once holding teams together strained. It is a sign that traditional approaches are no longer working.
Most organizations and employee development professionals have responded with the right instincts: leadership programs, engagement analytics, feedback tools, and L &D initiatives. But today’s workplace requires something different.
Development is continuous, not episodic. It’s personalized and collective. That means starting with a real understanding of how people on a team actually communicate, their styles, tensions, and blind spots. Giving managers and employees personalized, ongoing feedback and support they can act in when important moments arise is essential.
