IECL
22/04/2026
There is a quiet crisis unfolding in workplaces around the world, and it starts with managers. The Gallup State of the Global Workplace 2026 Report has landed with findings that should give every executive and HR leader pause. Global employee engagement has now dropped for two consecutive years, falling to 20% in 2025, its lowest level since 2020 and down from its peak of 23% in 2022. The estimated cost to the global economy: approximately $10 trillion in lost productivity, equivalent to 9% of global GDP. (Gallup, State of the Global Workplace 2026)
What makes these numbers more than a headline is that the data points to a consistent cause. Since 2022, manager engagement has dropped by nine points. The largest year-over-year decline occurred between 2024 and 2025, when manager engagement fell five points from 27% to 22%. Individual contributor engagement also declined but has seen a slight rebound. In short, managers used to enjoy an "engagement premium" at work. That premium has all but disappeared. And because Gallup's research shows 70% of team engagement is attributable to the manager, the consequences ripple far beyond any individual role.
The 2026 report introduces a new dimension: AI. Organisations are investing heavily in the technology, yet results remain elusive. Only 12% of employees in AI-implemented organisations strongly agree that AI has transformed how work gets done. Meanwhile, an NBER survey of nearly 6,000 global executives finds that 89% report no impact on labour productivity. The technology, it turns out, is not the constraint, the manager is.
Gallup finds that employees who strongly agree their manager actively supports their team's use of AI are 8.7 times as likely to say AI has transformed how work gets done, and 7.4 times as likely to say AI gives them more opportunities to do what they do best. Yet less than a third of employees in AI-implementing organisations strongly agree their manager actively supports that adoption.
The business case is hard to ignore. Low engagement cost the global economy an estimated $10 trillion in lost productivity last year, 9% of global GDP. Yet within best-practice organisations, 79% of managers are engaged at work, nearly quadruple the global average. The gap between where most organisations sit and what is demonstrably possible is not a matter of circumstance. It is a matter of investment.
The report also raises a more immediate concern. Leaders report higher life satisfaction than those they manage, but their day-to-day emotional experience tells a different story. Compared to individual contributors, leaders are substantially more likely to report experiencing stress, anger, sadness and loneliness. When managers are engaged, those negative emotions fall significantly, and their thriving rates rise by 14 points. Engagement is not just a performance metric: it is a human one.
Gallup's 2026 report does not mince words:
"Few managers have natural management talent, and many have not received the training they need to successfully coach teams and individuals toward high performance." (Gallup, State of the Global Workplace 2026)
That is not a peripheral finding. It sits at the centre of why manager engagement has fallen nine points since 2022. And the evidence on what closes that gap is equally clear.
"Leaders aren't disengaging because they don't care. They're disengaging because they're being asked to lead through one of the most complex environments in recent memory AI disruption, shifting expectations, shrinking resources without a framework to lean on. Coaching changes that."
Anna Öther-Gee Pohl | Director of Client Solutions, Institute of Executive Coaching and Leadership (IECL)
Coaching capability is not a leadership style suited to certain personalities. It is a skill. It can be built. And in an AI era, it is more consequential than ever not because the technology demands it, but because the people using it do.
Since 1999, IECL has certified over 10,000 organisational coaches and partnered with leaders across the globe to build exactly the capability Gallup is describing. What we hear consistently, from leaders at every level, is not a lack of effort or commitment. It is a lack of the right support at the right time.
The Gallup data does not tell us managers are failing. It tells us organisations are. And it also tells us exactly where to look.
What are you seeing in your own organisation? How are you supporting the managers in your business right now? We would love to hear from you in the comments.
We will be exploring what this means for leaders across the APAC region at the IECL The Future of Leadership Summit APAC 2026, 27–28 October at The Fullerton Hotel, Sydney. If these questions matter to your organisation, we would love to see you there.