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Team Building & Retreats tips
Published on
July 21, 2025
30 Employee Engagement Statistics That Will Transform Your Team Building Strategy in 2025
Employee engagement must be every company’s top priority because highly engaged teams consistently deliver stronger productivity, foster a positive work environment, and excel at retaining top talent, driving sustainable business success. Employee engagement statistics paint a sobering picture for 2025: only 21% of employees worldwide are engaged at work, according to Gallup’s latest State of the Global Workplace report, a decline that matches the lowest levels seen since the pandemic began.
In the United States, employee engagement has dropped to just 31%, the lowest level in a decade. Meanwhile, actively disengaged employees now make up 17–18% of the U.S. workforce. The cost of employee disengagement is staggering: Gallup estimates that disengaged employees cost the global economy $8.8 trillion annually in lost productivity, the equivalent of 9% of global GDP, as stated by Gallup on People Managing People. These losses manifest as high turnover, absenteeism, and diminished customer satisfaction, directly impacting business success and organizational performance.
But the upside is equally clear: engaged employees outperform their peers. Gallup’s research shows that highly engaged business units are 23% more profitable and have 59% less turnover in high-turnover organizations. Employee engagement initiatives, from regular feedback and career development opportunities to wellness programs and a healthy work-life balance, are proven to improve employee engagement and retention. Yet, with the majority of employees worldwide being actively disengaged, the urgent need to monitor employee engagement and invest in a positive, supportive employee experience becomes clear.
At TeamOut, we’ve helped over 700 companies—including Reddit, Netflix, and PWC—transform their team dynamics through data-driven employee engagement strategies that directly impact key metrics.
This article presents 30 criticalemployee engagement stats—each with actionable business implications and proven strategies—to help you boost employee engagement, strengthen your company culture, and achieve sustainable organizational success in 2025 and beyond. Check them out:
The Global Engagement Landscape: Understanding the Magnitude
This section covers worldwide employee engagement statistics, highlighting the proportion of engaged employees, actively disengaged employees, and the staggering business impact of disengaged employees on organizational success and the global economy. The stats don't lie! Check them out:
Source: Gallup's State of the Global Workplace Report 2024
Business Implications: This represents a significant decline from 23% in 2023, marking only the second decrease in engagement levels over the past 12 years. The 2-percentage-point drop translates to millions of disengaged workers globally, creating unprecedented challenges for organizational performance.
Strategic Application: Organizations must recognize that traditional engagement strategies are failing. The decline suggests that remote work transitions, economic uncertainty, and changing employee expectations require fundamentally different approaches to team connection and motivation. Team-building activities, whether in-person or in virtual settings, go a long way in keeping teams engaged and thriving.
Source:Gallup's State of the Global Workplace Report 2024
Business Implications: This staggering figure represents the overall economic impact of disengagement globally, demonstrating that employee disengagement is not just an HR issue but a macroeconomic crisis affecting entire industries and national competitiveness.
Strategic Application: The massive cost demonstrates the ROI potential of engagement initiatives. Organizations can calculate their specific disengagement costs and justify significant investments in team building, corporate retreats, and engagement programs.
3. 62% of Employees Globally Are Not Engaged, with 15% Actively Disengaged
Source:Gallup's State of the Global Workplace Report 2024
Business Implications: The majority of the global workforce operates in a state of disengagement, with a significant portion actively working against organizational interests. This creates massive productivity drains and cultural challenges.
Strategic Application: Organizations must address both passive disengagement (the 62%) and active disengagement (the 15%) through different strategies, with active disengagement requiring immediate intervention to prevent cultural contamination.
4. If the Global Workforce Were Fully Engaged, It Would Add $9.6 Trillion to the Economy
Source:Gallup's State of the Global Workplace Report 2024
Business Implications: This represents a 9% increase in global GDP, demonstrating the massive untapped potential within existing workforces. The opportunity cost of disengagement is staggering at both organizational and societal levels.
Strategic Application: Organizations that achieve high engagement levels gain competitive advantages equivalent to accessing entirely new markets or revolutionary technologies, making engagement initiatives strategic imperatives. Analyzing team-building trends for 2025 can go a long way when it comes to keeping employees motivated and valued at work.
The Manager Engagement Crisis
Here, you’ll find engagement statistics showing how manager engagement rates have sharply declined, with disengaged managers directly undermining employee morale, employee satisfaction, and overall business performance.
Source:Gallup's State of the Global Workplace Report 2024
Business Implications: The 3-percentage-point decline in manager engagement is particularly concerning because managers influence 70% of team engagement variance. Disengaged managers create cascading negative effects throughout their teams.
Strategic Application: Manager disengagement often stems from role ambiguity, insufficient support, and overwhelming responsibilities. Organizations must prioritize manager development and support systems to prevent engagement erosion.
Source:Gallup's State of the Global Workplace Report 2025
Business Implications: Younger managers face unique challenges including role transition difficulties, insufficient support systems, and overwhelming responsibilities that contribute to rapid engagement decline.
Strategic Application: Organizations must provide enhanced support for younger managers including mentorship programs, leadership development activities, leadership retreats, and peer support networks to prevent engagement erosion.
Source:Gallup's State of the Global Workplace Report 2025
Business Implications: The dramatic decline in female manager engagement represents a critical threat to organizational diversity and inclusion efforts. Female managers often face unique challenges, including work-life balance pressures and advancement barriers.
Strategic Application: Organizations must address gender-specific engagement challenges through targeted support systems, flexible work arrangements, and clear advancement pathways for female leaders.
Business Implications: Managers serve as the primary driver of team engagement, making manager development and support critical investments for organizational engagement improvement.
Strategic Application: Organizations must prioritize manager training, support systems, and engagement initiatives as the most effective way to improve overall workforce engagement levels.
Regional Engagement Variations
This category presents employee engagement metrics by region, illustrating how engagement levels and employee experience differ across continents and cultures, and how these variations affect business outcomes and company culture. Check our top findings below:
Source:Gallup's State of the Global Workplace Report 2025
Business Implications: While North American engagement levels lead globally, the 31% rate still indicates that nearly 70% of the workforce remains disengaged, representing massive untapped potential for organizational performance improvement.
Strategic Application: North American organizations should leverage their relative engagement advantage while addressing the remaining 69% of disengaged employees through systematic intervention strategies.
10. Europe has the Lowest Employee Engagement at Just 13%
Source:Gallup's State of the Global Workplace Report 2025
Business Implications: European organizations face unique engagement challenges related to regulatory environments, cultural diversity, and economic pressures. The 13% engagement rate significantly lags behind other regions.
Strategic Application: European companies must adapt engagement strategies to diverse cultural contexts while addressing region-specific challenges, including economic uncertainty and regulatory compliance burdens.
Source:Gallup's State of the Global Workplace Report 2024
Business Implications: South Asian organizations achieve relatively strong engagement levels despite economic pressures, suggesting cultural factors and organizational practices that other regions can learn from.
Strategic Application: Study South Asian engagement practices, including strong hierarchical respect, family-oriented workplace cultures, and long-term employment relationships to identify transferable strategies.
Source:Gallup's State of the Global Workplace Report 2025
Business Implications: Latin American organizations match North American engagement levels, suggesting effective cultural and organizational practices that contribute to higher engagement despite economic challenges.
Strategic Application: Examine Latin American engagement practices including strong interpersonal relationships, family-oriented cultures, and community-focused organizational approaches for transferable strategies.
U.S.-Specific Engagement Challenges
This section focuses on U.S. employee engagement statistics, including recent drops in engagement rates, the rising costs of employee disengagement, and the impact on employee retention, job satisfaction, and business success. Here's what you need to know:
13. U.S. Employee Engagement Fell to Lowest Level in a Decade at 31%
Source: Forbes, citing Gallup's article titled U.S. Employee Engagement Sinks to 10-Year Low
Business Implications: The decline to decade-low levels indicates that traditional engagement strategies are failing in the current business environment, requiring new approaches to workforce motivation and connection.
Strategic Application: U.S. organizations must reassess their engagement strategies, considering factors like remote work, economic uncertainty, and changing employee expectations in their approach.
Source:Gallup's article titled U.S. Employee Engagement Sinks to 10-Year Low
Business Implications: Role clarity is fundamental to engagement, and the fact that over half of employees lack clear expectations creates massive productivity and satisfaction challenges.
Strategic Application: Organizations must invest in clear communication systems, role definition processes, and regular expectation-setting conversations to improve engagement foundations.
15. Just 39% of Employees Feel Someone at Work Cares About Them as a Person
Source:Gallup's article titled 7 Workplace Challenges for 2025
Business Implications: Personal connection and care are fundamental human needs that directly impact engagement. The low percentage indicates widespread feelings of isolation and disconnection in the workplace.
Strategic Application: Organizations must create systems and cultures that demonstrate genuine care for employees as individuals, not just as productive resources.
Remote and Hybrid Work Impact
Let's find out how remote and hybrid work models influence employee engagement levels, employee well-being, and mental health support, as well as the challenges of maintaining a highly engaged workforce in virtual environments:
Source:Gallup's article titled The Remote Work Paradox: Higher Engagement, Lower Wellbeing
Business Implications: Remote workers show engagement levels matching the North American average, challenging assumptions about remote work's negative impact on engagement while highlighting the importance of intentional connection strategies.
Strategic Application: Remote work can maintain engagement levels when supported by proper systems, communication protocols, and regular team connection opportunities, including strategic retreats.
Business Implications: Hybrid workers demonstrate the highest engagement levels, suggesting that flexibility combined with regular in-person interaction creates optimal conditions for employee engagement.
Strategic Application: The hybrid model's success indicates that employees value both flexibility and connection, requiring organizations to optimize both remote and in-person experiences.
Source:Gallup's article titled The Remote Work Paradox: Higher Engagement, Lower Wellbeing
Business Implications: Despite higher engagement levels, remote workers show concerning job search activity, suggesting that engagement alone doesn't guarantee retention in distributed work environments.
Strategic Application: Remote organizations must address retention challenges through enhanced career development, stronger team connections, and regular opportunities for in-person collaboration and relationship building.
Source:Gallup's State of the Global Workplace Report 2025
Business Implications: Remote work's impact extends beyond professional engagement to overall life satisfaction, indicating that isolation and work-life boundary challenges significantly affect employee well-being and long-term sustainability.
Strategic Application: Organizations must address the holistic well-being of remote employees, recognizing that professional engagement requires personal thriving and life satisfaction.
Generational Engagement Dynamics
This category explores engagement statistics by age group, revealing how different generations of employees feel about their work, career advancement opportunities, and employee engagement initiatives. This is what you must know:
Source:Gallup's State of the Global Workplace Report 2024
Business Implications: Gen Z demonstrates surprisingly high engagement levels, contradicting common assumptions about younger workers while highlighting their specific needs for meaningful work and clear purpose.
Strategic Application: Gen Z engagement stems from values alignment, growth opportunities, and social impact awareness, requiring organizations to clearly communicate purpose and provide development pathways.
Source:LinkedIn's article titled Gen Z in the Workforce: Shaping 2025 and Beyond
Business Implications: Gen Z's high motivation levels indicate significant potential for organizational performance improvement when properly channeled through effective leadership and engagement strategies.
Strategic Application: Organizations must provide clear channels for Gen Z's extra contribution desires, including leadership opportunities, innovation projects, and meaningful impact initiatives.
Source: Harvard Business Review's article titled Solving for Z
Business Implications: Despite high engagement, Gen Z shows low long-term commitment intentions, creating challenges for organizational planning and development investment decisions.
Strategic Application: Organizations must balance high engagement with retention strategies that address Gen Z's career mobility expectations and desire for continuous growth and development.
Source:New York Post's article titled Three-quarters of Gen Z is Looking to Switch Jobs for this Reason
Business Implications: The high burnout rate among highly engaged Gen Z workers suggests that engagement without proper support systems can lead to unsustainable performance levels and eventual disengagement.
Strategic Application: Organizations must balance high performance expectations with wellness support, stress management resources, and sustainable work practices to prevent burnout-driven turnover.
24. 49% of Gen Z Workers Would Quit Within Two Years If Dissatisfied with Company Values
Source:Deloitte'sGlobal 2025 Gen Z and Millennial Survey
Business Implications: Values alignment is critical for Gen Z retention, making organizational culture and purpose communication essential for maintaining this highly engaged but mobile workforce segment.
Strategic Application: Organizations must clearly articulate and consistently demonstrate their values, ensuring alignment between stated values and actual practices to retain Gen Z talent.
Mental Health and Wellbeing Crisis
This section highlights how declining mental health and well-being are undermining employee engagement rates, with remote employees feeling exhausted and on-site employees also expressing increased stress.
25. 1.7 Million Workers in the UK Suffered Work-Related Mental Health Issues in 2023/24
Source:Health and Safety Executive (HSE) 2023/24 annual report
Business Implications: Work-related mental health issues represent a massive organizational and societal cost, with stress, depression, and anxiety accounting for nearly half of all work-related health problems.
Strategic Application: Organizations must proactively address workplace mental health through comprehensive wellness programs, stress management resources, and supportive team environments.
Business Implications: Widespread burnout indicates systemic workplace issues that require comprehensive organizational responses beyond individual wellness programs.
Strategic Application: Organizations must address burnout through workload management, role clarity, support systems, and regular opportunities for recovery and renewal.
Business Implications: Remote work's flexibility appears to provide some protection against burnout, though this must be balanced against other remote work challenges like isolation and engagement.
Strategic Application: Organizations can leverage remote work's burnout protection benefits while addressing its engagement and connection challenges through strategic interventions.
Employee Turnover and Economic Impact
This section highlights the connection between engagement statistics, employee retention, and the economic costs of disengaged employees, emphasizing how improving employee engagement can drive organizational success and reduce employee disengagement costs. Check these out:
28. Cost of Replacing Individual Workers Ranges from Half to Four Times Annual Salary
Source:Applauz: The Real Costs Of Employee Turnover In 2025
Business Implications: Turnover costs vary significantly by role and industry, but even conservative estimates show a massive financial impact from employee departures, making retention initiatives highly cost-effective.
Strategic Application: Organizations should calculate specific turnover costs for different roles and invest proportionally in retention strategies, with engagement initiatives showing strong ROI potential.
Source:Gallup's article titled This Fixable Problem Costs U.S. Businesses $1 Trillion
Business Implications: The trillion-dollar annual cost of voluntary turnover represents one of the largest addressable business expenses, with engagement initiatives offering significant cost reduction potential.
Strategic Application: Even small improvements in retention rates can generate massive cost savings, justifying substantial investments in engagement and team-building programs.
30. Companies with High Employee Engagement Experience 59% Less Turnover
Source:Gallup's article titled The Benefits of Employee Engagement
Business Implications: High-engagement organizations achieve dramatic turnover reduction, demonstrating the direct connection between engagement initiatives and retention outcomes.
Strategic Application: Organizations should prioritize engagement as a primary retention strategy, with the 59% turnover reduction representing massive cost savings and operational stability benefits.
Conclusion: Transforming Statistics into Strategic Advantage
The 30 employee engagement statistics highlighted in this article reveal urgent employee engagement trends that organizations can no longer afford to ignore. With only 21% of employees globally reporting that they are actively engaged, and disengaged workers costing the economy a staggering $8.8 trillion annually, it’s clear that companies must rethink their employee engagement strategy to remain competitive.
The data underscores several critical intervention points:
Manager engagement is the single most influential factor, accounting for 70% of the variance in team engagement rates. When managers are engaged, employees feel valued, and job satisfaction soars.
Hybrid work models are leading the way, with 31% of employees expressing higher engagement, suggesting that flexibility drives employee retention and a loyal workforce.
Generational differences are shaping how employees feel about their work. Gen Z's intentions to stay are low, highlighting the need for targeted employee appreciation and retention initiatives.
Mental health and burnout remain top concerns, with employee feedback consistently pointing to the need for proactive wellness programs and daily virtual meetings that help employees feel motivated and supported.
To truly measure employee engagement and move beyond traditional surveys, companies must embrace comprehensive, experience-based interventions. An effective employee engagement platform can help track progress, but transformational experiences, like corporate retreats, are proven to foster company culture, boost engagement rates, and turn disengaged employees into actively engaged team members.
The latest employee engagement statistics make it clear: employee engagement is at a crossroads. Companies that focus on meaningful employee feedback, invest in employee engagement platforms, and prioritize employee appreciation will not only see higher employee retention and customer satisfaction, but will also cultivate a workforce where employees express genuine loyalty.
TeamOut has a proven track record, having organized over 1,000 corporate events and retreats with a 95% satisfaction rate. Our methodologies are designed to ensure employees feel connected and empowered to contribute their best. If you’re ready to transform your employee engagement strategy and join the ranks of companies with high employee engagement,schedule a free call with TeamOut today. Together, we can help your organization capture your share of the $9.6 trillion engagement opportunity and ensure your employees feel truly valued.
Thomas Mazimann, a French entrepreneur and former international kayaking athlete, transitioned from sports to tech after moving to the U.S. He co-founded TeamOut, revolutionizing team gatherings.
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