Recent Gallup data show that just 10% of UK employees are actively engaged at work, far below the global average of 21%. Manager engagement in the UK is only marginally better, with 16% of managers reporting high engagement.

When you consider that a manager accounts for 70% of total team engagement, it puts into perspective the fundamental role that managers have to play in an organisation. With just 10% of UK employees feeling actively engaged at work, we’d argue that managers are failing their teams – and businesses are failing their managers.

Without strong engagement at employee and managerial levels, UK organisations are sleep-walking into lower productivity, higher turnover, and diminished financial success.

Employee Engagement: The Wake-up Call

  • Just 10% of UK employees feel highly involved in—and enthusiastic about—their work, ranking the UK 30th out of 38 European countries.
  • By contrast, global engagement stands at 21%, and leading European nations like Romania report engagement levels of 35%.

Disengaged employees take more sick days, less pride in their work, are less productive, are more likely to underperform….. and the list goes on.

Gallup estimates that improving the engagement of just half of the disengaged workforce could add trillions to the global economy, and that similar gains would be possible in the UK if engagement rose even modestly.

Manager Engagement: The Lever for Change

  • UK managers report only 16% engagement, compared to an average of 27% globally.
  • Managers directly drive team engagement, with 70% of variance in employee engagement being attributable to managers.

Gallup’s global study shows that basic management training can halve the number of actively disengaged managers. It could also yield up to 18% higher engagement in their teams.

When managers receive role-specific training with the creation, maintenance or improvement of team engagement in mind, the results for businesses are often transformative. Gallup suggests that teams with engaged managers are 21% more productive, experience up to 41% lower absenteeism, and deliver better customer experience. Engaged employees also tend to stay 87% longer than those who are disengaged, reducing turnover and the associated costs significantly. 

Gallup estimates that businesses who support their managers continuously see up to 23% higher profitability.

That’s an astounding figure, and we think it speaks to the value that investing training managers can bring.

 

If you want to explore the full Gallup State of the Global Workforce 2025 Report in more detail, you can find it here: https://www.gallup.com/home.