Employee engagement and survey statistics
Engagement levels worldwide, in the US and in Europe, plus survey response rates and what happens after a survey. Every figure links to its source.
Engagement levels
20% of employees worldwide were engaged at work in 2025, the lowest level since 2020.
Employed adults in more than 140 countries · Gallup, State of the Global Workplace: 2026 Report, 2026
16% of employees worldwide were actively disengaged in 2025.
Employees worldwide · Gallup, Indicator: Employee Engagement, 2026
12% of employees in Europe are engaged, compared with 31% in the US and Canada.
Employees in Europe and in the US and Canada, 2025 · Gallup, Indicator: Employee Engagement, 2026
31% of US employees were engaged at work in 2025, unchanged from 2024 and down from 36% in 2020.
78,945 US adults working full or part time · Gallup, U.S. Employee Engagement Declines From 2020 Peak, 2026
When Gallup began tracking US engagement in 2000, 26% of employees were engaged.
US employees · Gallup, Indicator: Employee Engagement, 2026
Engagement among Gen Z and younger millennial workers in the US fell 8 points between 2020 and 2025.
US workers in Gen Z and younger millennials · Gallup, U.S. Employee Engagement Declines From 2020 Peak, 2026
Organizations Gallup describes as best practice reach an average engagement rate of 70%.
Gallup client organizations · Gallup, Indicator: Employee Engagement, 2026
Managers and cost
Managers account for at least 70% of the difference in engagement scores between teams.
27 million employees and 2.5 million work units · Gallup, Managers Account for 70% of Variance in Employee Engagement, 2015
Manager engagement worldwide has dropped 9 points since 2022.
Managers worldwide · Gallup, State of the Global Workplace: 2026 Report, 2026
Low engagement cost the world economy about $10 trillion in lost productivity, or 9% of global GDP.
Global workforce, 2025 · Gallup, State of the Global Workplace: 2026 Report, 2026
Surveys and what happens after them
The average response rate in published workplace surveys rose from 48% in 2005 to 68% in 2020.
1,014 surveys in 17 management journals · Holtom, Baruch, Aguinis and Ballinger, Survey response rates, Human Relations, 2022
Teams whose members felt survey actions made a difference raised engagement scores by 10% on average.
Work groups in Gallup client organizations · Gallup, What to Do With Employee Survey Results, 2006
Teams that saw little action after a survey saw engagement scores fall by 3% on average.
Work groups in Gallup client organizations · Gallup, What to Do With Employee Survey Results, 2006
What these figures mean for a survey
Asking is half the job. The figures on survey action show that a survey followed by visible change tends to be followed by better results, and a survey followed by silence by worse ones. The survey action plan and the results emails are free to download.
Download the data
All figures on this page in one spreadsheet, with sources and links.
Cite this page: Employee engagement and survey statistics. Employee Survey Questions. https://employeesurveyquestions.com/employee-engagement-statistics/