U.S. & Canada Employee Engagement Slips, Now Ties With Latin America

American & Canadian employees' life ratings hit a record low

WASHINGTON, April 23, 2025 /CNW/ -- For only the second time in the past 12 years, the global percentage of engaged employees fell — from 23% in 2023 to 21% in 2024, according to Gallup's latest State of the Global Workplace report.

Since 2011, the U.S. and Canada region has had the highest levels of engagement worldwide. However, in 2024, the U.S. and Canada (31%) has tied with another region for the first time — Latin America (31%), which is now at its highest engagement rate in Gallup's trend.

Managers' Engagement

The primary cause for the global decline in engagement is a drop in managers' engagement: While engagement among individual contributors remained flat at 18%, managers' engagement fell from 30% to 27%.

No other worker category experienced as significant a decline in engagement as the world's managers. Two types of managers were particularly affected:

• Young (under 35) manager engagement fell by five percentage points.
• Female manager engagement dropped by seven points.

"Manager engagement affects team engagement, which affects productivity. Business performance — and ultimately GDP growth — is at risk if executive leaders do not address manager breakdown," said Jim Harter, Gallup's chief workplace scientist.

Gallup recommends three actions leaders can take to boost manager engagement:

• Ensure all managers receive training to cut extreme manager disengagement in half. Manager development has declined globally in recent years, and most say they have not received any training. However, active disengagement is cut in half for those who receive training.
• Teach managers effective coaching techniques to boost their performance. Participants in training courses focused on management best practices experienced up to 22% higher engagement than non-participants. Teams led by those participants saw engagement rise by up to 18%.
• Increase manager thriving through ongoing development. When employers provide manager training, it improves manager thriving from 28% to 34%. However, if they have training and someone at work who actively encourages their development, manager thriving increases to 50%.

Regional Engagement Trends

Engagement in the U.S. (32%) is at its lowest point in nearly a decade — consistent with findings from other Gallup research tracks.

Meanwhile, 21% of Canadian employees are engaged, matching recent three-year rolling averages.

The U.S. has consistently had engagement rates higher than Canada — by double digits. However, the latest 11-point gap is the smallest between the two countries Gallup has measured in the trend dating back to the first three-year rolling average in 2010-2012.

The Job Market

Globally, over half of employees (51%) say it is a "good time" to find a job where they live, but this is down to the lowest point since 2021.

The percentage of workers in the U.S. and Canada region saying it is a good time to find a local job (57%) is slightly higher than the global average.

Employee Wellbeing

A record-low 52% of employees in the U.S. and Canada region are thriving in their lives; however, this figure is still much higher than the global average (33%).

Worldwide, the percentage of thriving employees dropped for a consecutive year, falling to the lowest point since 2021.

Among global employees, reports of stress are slightly lower than in recent years but remain elevated compared to pre-pandemic figures. Reports of experiencing daily anger are stable, while experiences of sadness are on the high end of Gallup's trend since 2009. More than one in five employees report having experienced loneliness.

About Gallup 
Gallup delivers analytics and advice to help leaders and organizations solve their most pressing problems. Combining more than 80 years of experience with its global reach, Gallup knows more about the attitudes and behaviors of employees, customers, students and citizens than any other organization in the world.

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SOURCE Gallup, Inc.