Workplace wins: How to improve engagement
The problem:
In 2024 the global percentage of engaged employees fell from 23% to 21% - a two-point drop equal to that of the COVID-19 lockdowns and shelter-in-place orders.
In their State of the Global Workplace report 2025 Gallup describes “a pivotal moment in the global workplace” with “a workforce on the cusp of seismic change”:
Management is being slashed to cut costs -“the great flattening”
Employee engagement is crashing
AI is rapidly becoming an unavoidable reality
Burnout and ‘silent cracking’ are on the rise: Mental Health for England reports a rise of UK employees showing symptoms of burnout from 51% in 2023 to 63% in 2025.
Poor management - by people who are nearly always untrained and unsupported - is the greatest barrier to better employee engagement:
Less than half of the world’s managers (44%) say they have received management training
85% of managers in the UK get no leadership training (UK Employee Engagement Survey 2025)
Many managers are simply what the Chartered Management Institute describes as “accidental” managers: “well-meaning but under-prepared people who take up leadership positions and struggle with the responsibilities.”
All over the world failures of leadership and management are making people unhappy and ill.
And unproductive.
“Being able to feel safe with other people is probably the single most important aspect of mental health; safe connections are fundamental to meaningful and satisfying lives.”
The solution:
The Gallup recipe for success - and “a global productivity boom” - includes initial and ongoing manager training and teaching effective coaching skills.
Great though this sounds, for the people I work with, change is not going to happen soon enough for them.
What you can do now:
If any of this resonates, why not book a free call and let’s talk: I work with managers, leaders and people who are managed and led:
The first step is to acknowledge your situation and the impact it’s having on you
Then we can start to identify the outcome you want - whatever that might be
Then we work together as you move forward, step by step.
“We need leaders to actually stand up and say, “I’m not part of that old system. I’m part of a new system, or I’m part of reimagining a new system. That’s why, for me, the whole organisational construct is up for grabs right now. It’s a very powerful time.”
