59% of Global Workers are Disengaged, Impacting Productivity and Performance

Gallup released its State of the Global Workplace: 2023 Report finding that over half of the global workforce is disengaged at work, costing the global economy $8.8 trillion, and reinforcing the need for employers to get more in touch with their employees. Over half (51%) of global respondents state they are watching for or actively seeking new employment, and to take a new job, disengaged employees want a 22% pay increase. The report found that disengagement has more of an impact on stress and productivity than work location.

Long road ahead to improve employee engagement. Despite employee engagement reaching a record high of 23%, the majority of the world’s employees are disengaged, or “quiet quitting” (59%). However, not all is lost with disengaged employees, as they are ready to be motivated by work, and employers and managers can take steps to improve their engagement. Improving company culture, increased pay and benefits, and an increased focus on wellbeing were all factors that employees believed would reengage them. 

Engagement impacts employee stress more than work location. Gallup found that engagement has 3.8 times as much influence on employee stress as location and that what employees experience in their everyday work — their feelings of involvement and enthusiasm — matter more in reducing stress than where they are sitting.

Managers play a key role in engagement. An employee’s relationship with their direct manager also has more impact on stress than work location. In fact, 79% of team engagement is attributable to the manager. However, many managers are also disengaged, so companies should focus on enabling and empowering their management teams and providing them with the resources and tools to effectively lead. 

44% of global workers feel stressed at work. Despite continued recovery from Covid, worker stress levels have been steadily growing over the past two years. Workers in the U.S., Canada, and East Asia are the most stressed with a rate of 52% and Europe is the least stressed region. Interestingly, workers in Europe experience both low stress and low engagement while those in South Asia are the most engaged yet most angry. 

Outlook: As organizational leaders navigate economic uncertainty, employee stress is impacting productivity and performance. Gallup advises employers to consider whether poor work performance is a location problem or a management problem and address workplace stressors like low salaries, long hours, and lack of advancement to reengage employees.