The Data Is In. And It's Not Pretty for Managers.

 Gallup's State of the Global Workplace 2026 Report has one finding that deserves more attention than it's getting. 

Manager engagement has fallen nine points since 2022.  Down five points in the last year alone from 27% to 22%. For the first time, managers are only as engaged as the people they lead. The "engagement premium" that used to come with the job? It's gone.

And when you look at what managers are actually carrying from the Global Managers Survey, it's not hard to see why:

• 75% are experiencing stress and burnout

• 70% say supporting their team emotionally impacts their own stress levels

• 50% spend up to five hours a week providing that support
  

The role has changed, and the load has become unsustainable.

⚠️ Manager pressure is at a breaking point.

💡 𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲'𝘀 𝗮 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀𝗻'𝘁 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗸𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗲𝗻𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵.
Through COVID, engagement surveys and poorly structured wellbeing initiatives, we've unwittingly built a '𝑐𝑢𝑙𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛'.

𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗻𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗲𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗼𝘆𝗲𝗲𝘀, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗯𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺.

It's not that employees don't want to take ownership. It's that nobody has shown them how.

Without a personalised framework, people default to looking outward. They look to the manager, the organisation, the culture. But what drives engagement is 𝘂𝗻𝗶𝗾𝘂𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻. No top-down programme can substitute for an employee who owns their own engagement.

🎯 𝗦𝗼 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁'𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝘀𝘄𝗲𝗿?

Not more pressure on managers. Not another initiative that treats everyone the same. It's giving employees a framework to own their engagement, and giving managers a repeatable process to embed and sustain it. 𝗪𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗱𝗲𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗻𝗰𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆.

💼 That's not a nice-to-have. That's a business case.

If your organisation is navigating low engagement, manager burnout, or wellbeing investments that aren't landing, I'd love to have a conversation.