Employee engagement in the United States has slipped below 30%, reaching its lowest level since 2011, according to Gallup. The decline of two percentage points from the preceding quarter amounts to approximately 3.2 million fewer engaged workers. At the same time, the proportion classified as actively disengaged increased from 17% to 18%.
Fully remote employees recorded the steepest overall decline, with engagement falling five percentage points. Among on-site employees, the decrease was only about one point. The deterioration was most pronounced among remote and hybrid staff at organizations that had adopted artificial intelligence.
That pattern contrasts with the engagement advantage previously observed at AI-integrated organizations. In the second quarter of 2026, they exceeded their industry peers by eight percentage points among hybrid employees and five points among fully remote staff. By the third quarter, each of those advantages had contracted to just two points.
Measures of workplace clarity and personal support also weakened. The proportion of employees strongly agreeing that they understood what was expected of them declined three points to 46%. Meanwhile, the share strongly agreeing that their supervisor or another person at work cared about them as an individual fell from 40% to 37%.
Taken together, the findings prompted Gallup to question whether organizational communication and managerial support were keeping pace with AI integration. Although its July survey had found substantially higher engagement at organizations adopting AI, the latest results showed a considerably smaller advantage, at least among remote and hybrid employees.
