Managers are becoming less engaged at work – does this signal a deeper crisis?

"Breaking point" is a strong term – but one that Gallup doesn't refrain from using when underlining the state of employee engagement today. For many, life feels much harder than it did a few years ago; budgets are being slashed, geopolitical uncertainty is crippling markets, and technology is beginning to pose an existential crisis to many. The list goes on. That's partly why "breaking point" is appropriate.

Last year engagement fell for only the second time since 2009, from 23% to 21%, according to the organization's latest report into the global workforce. The last sustained fall was due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, again a two-point drop from 22% to 20%. This latest dip, the report suggests, has cost businesses a collective $438 billion in productivity losses.

"When employees are engaged, they are more productive at work. They are absent less and produce more. They build better customer relationships and close more sales," the authors of the report write. "So, what engages work teams the most? Their manager. If managers are disengaged, their teams are, too."

What's sparking the engagement fall?

Myriad factors are contributing to a steady decline in engagement, which organizations have "failed to address at their root," says psychotherapist, neuroscience coach and founder of WorkingWell Daily, Farah Harris. For some, a return-to-office mandate has "reintroduced layers of stress around commuting, childcare and managing competing responsibilities with fewer resources". Beyond that, she adds there's a "deeper psychological wound at play".

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"Folks are just tired. Tired of the uncertainty. Tired of the layoffs. Tired of being required to do more with less. Tired of the change initiatives that are rolled out with big fanfare then are abandoned or make things more complicated," Harris tells ITPro. She adds that millennials are also dealing with chronic distress in the way of "professional futures that were promised but never delivered".

There's also a "relentless pressure" to do more with less, say many of the experts to whom ITPro spoke. Lisa Sansom, founder of LVS Consulting, says: "We're dealing with a workplace that's burned out and younger generations have seen their parents work hard for no reward, just missing out on family and life. That's not sustainable and employees not only want balance, they also want meaning, purpose, and mattering."

What about the rise in technology, and particularly AI in the engagement fall? It plays a role, experts tell ITPro, but is rarely ever the root cause. "In my work, technology and AI run the risk of diminishing the priority that we place on relationships," says Laurie Cure, the founder and CEO of Innovative Connections. "How often do we start a remote meeting and just get down to business? It’s easy to forget that people are still in the room."

More broadly, leaders need to consider how they deploy new technologies, especially AI. "AI is increasing the speed and complexity of work, but most organizations haven’t evolved their infrastructure and ways of working to help people keep up," Lauren Tropeano, chief people officer at Docebo, tells ITPro. Troeano has 20 years of experience building and scaling teams at organizations like DraftKings, Pivotal Software, and Dell/EMC. "Employees are given new tools without the clarity, skills, or permission to truly change how they work. So instead of feeling empowered, they feel behind and confused."

Diving into management issues

Managers are less engaged than before, according to the research, but the trend is worse among young professionals and women. That's in part because the generational challenges leaders are experiencing are more extreme than in previous years, explains Cure, with many requiring coaching and mentoring, as well as clear frameworks, that simply aren't there. "We’ve handed younger leaders one of the most complex versions of leadership we’ve ever seen and often given them the least support to navigate it."

There's also no moving beyond the way that managers are positioned to be in the middle of the organizational structure – between employees and senior leadership. They are often the ones who must absorb the shock of organizational changes and strategic shifts before thinking fast and ensuring those they manage can adapt and get on board. Meanwhile, they need to juggle such transitions with general performance, hybrid working, employee welfare and resource management. These are demanding tasks that are placing an increased cognitive load on managers, many of whom aren't given the tools to handle the added and often volatile set of responsibilities, experts tell ITPro.

The problem is concentrated among certain quarters. Younger and female managers, in particular, are expected to lead with empathy while navigating the same shifts everyone undergoes without clear guidance and support, Tropeano says. That's not sustainable – and organizations are not investing in manager capability and clarity.

Disengagement among female managers in the workplace is "rooted in a deeper different type of exhaustion," agrees Harris. "It’s 2026 and we are still working on closing that gender equity gap. Not just financially, but in access to opportunities, decision-making power and basic respect. Many women are still trying to navigate the tension between what a successful career is supposed to look like and what a full life requires – especially if raising a family. Women are disengaged because the system wants their labor, not their presence, and it keeps asking them to choose."

Turning the tide

The unfortunate truth is that most workers don't trust their leaders and managers – with less than half (48%) retaining faith in senior management, according to Gartner research. Cure pinpoints a few factors that are further exacerbating the trust deficit, including layoffs, restructures, shifting policies on remote work, and economy uncertainty. All of these place more of a burden on leaders, who are themselves becoming increasingly stretched thin.

To overcome these challenges, Cure recommends building leadership capabilities throughout the organization. "Rarely, if ever, do you hear someone talk about a great leader and list their technical accomplishments. More often, it's about how they motivate and encourage their employees and how much they care."

Angela Rixon is founder and CEO of The Centre for Meaningful Work and tells ITPro that stabilizing the manager experience is as close to a silver bullet as you can get, because "managers are the biggest multiplier of team engagement". This, she adds, involves proper training, practical coaching and ongoing support – not just expecting managers to carry the can on the greater complexity and rely on their instincts purely.

"More broadly, organizations need to bring back coherence. Set fewer, clearer priorities," Rixon argues. "Improve role clarity. Help people see how their work connects to customers, outcomes, and progress. Give teams more local autonomy over how work gets delivered, and create communication rhythms that feel predictable rather than reactive."

The crux of the matter comes down to how well senior leadership can set up their managers for success – and that starts with clarity, says Tropeano. "From there, organizations need to invest in continuous development so employees feel capable of meeting evolving demands. Engagement improves when people feel focused, supported, and able to do meaningful work well and when they bring the right mindsets to the mission at hand.

"It’s not about asking people to give more. It’s about creating the conditions where they can."