Fewer than 30% of US employees feel engaged, meaning interested and involved in their work, according to Gallup. This is the lowest level since 2011. Engagement fell by two percentage points from the previous quarter, representing about 3.2 million fewer engaged workers. Meanwhile, the share of actively disengaged workers rose from 17% to 18%.
Fully remote employees experienced the largest decline, with engagement falling by five points. Among employees working on-site, it dropped by only about one point. The sharpest falls affected remote and hybrid workers at organisations using artificial intelligence, or AI; hybrid employees divide their time between remote and on-site work.
Gallup's July survey found considerably higher engagement at organisations that had adopted AI. However, this advantage became much smaller for remote and hybrid workers in the latest survey.
Employees also felt less clear about expectations and less cared for at work. The share strongly agreeing that they knew what was expected of them fell by three points to 46%. Those strongly agreeing that their supervisor or someone at work cared about them as a person fell from 40% to 37%. Gallup questions whether communication and support from managers are keeping up with the introduction of AI.
