20%
of employees worldwide were engaged at work in 2025.
Gallup defines engaged employees as those who are highly involved in and enthusiastic about their work and workplace.
Source: Gallup, State of the Global Workplace: 2026 Report, April 22, 2026Leadership Reference
Employee Engagement and Manager Statistics: 2026
A current, sourced reference for leaders, writers, and workplace teams looking at engagement, manager capability, feedback, retention, and the leadership workforce.
Last updated August 7, 2026
The Big Picture
Good leadership is felt in the everyday work.
Frontline leaders turn expectations into action, feedback into growth, and difficult moments into a clearer next step. The numbers below help put that responsibility in perspective. Each statistic links to its original source and is dated so you can check the work behind it.
Jump to sourcesKey Statistics
The numbers behind the everyday leadership conversation.
79%
of managers who received Gallup best-practice training were engaged.
Gallup reported this rate alongside a 20% global employee engagement average, underscoring how manager development can shape the day-to-day employee experience.
Source: Gallup, State of the Global Workplace: 2026 Report, April 22, 202670%
of the variance in team engagement can be attributed to the manager.
Gallup uses this finding to show why the relationship between a supervisor and team deserves deliberate support, not just a promotion and a job title.
Source: Gallup, How to Engage Frontline Managers, January 19, 202442%
of employees who voluntarily left said their manager or organization could have done something to prevent it.
The finding is a reminder that retention conversations need to happen before someone is already halfway out the door.
Source: Gallup, Enhancing the Employee Exit Experience Is Worth It, July 15, 202444%
of people who discussed their intention to leave did not speak with their direct manager before deciding.
Gallup found that employees were more likely to have those conversations with coworkers than with their managers.
Source: Gallup, 42% of Employee Turnover Is Preventable but Often Ignored, February 16, 202621%
of U.S. employees strongly agreed that they had received meaningful feedback in the last week.
The finding points to a familiar problem for frontline teams: feedback only helps when people experience it as timely and useful.
Source: Gallup, Give Feedback Like a Coach, June 16, 20221.1 million
openings in management occupations are projected each year in the United States from 2024 to 2034.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics expects these openings to come from growth and the need to replace people who leave the occupation permanently.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Management Occupations, August 28, 2025What To Take From It
Managers do not need perfect scripts. They need useful habits.
The strongest common thread is not a leadership slogan. It is the quality of the relationship between a manager and the people doing the work. Clear expectations, regular feedback, follow-through, and honest conversations are practical habits that help teams know where they stand.
That is the work Muddy Boots Leadership stays close to: helping leaders handle real conversations with more clarity and steadiness when the day is already full.
Explore new supervisor trainingSources And Method
How this reference is maintained
This page collects publicly available findings from Gallup and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Sources measure different groups, countries, and time periods, so the figures are presented with their own context rather than treated as interchangeable.
- Gallup, State of the Global Workplace: 2026 Report, published April 22, 2026.
- Gallup, State of the Global Workplace: 2026 Report, published April 22, 2026.
- Gallup, How to Engage Frontline Managers, published January 19, 2024.
- Gallup, Enhancing the Employee Exit Experience Is Worth It, published July 15, 2024.
- Gallup, 42% of Employee Turnover Is Preventable but Often Ignored, published February 16, 2026.
- Gallup, Give Feedback Like a Coach, published June 16, 2022.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Management Occupations, published August 28, 2025.
Cite this page
Muddy Boots Leadership. Employee Engagement and Manager Statistics: 2026. Updated August 7, 2026. https://muddybootsleadership.org/employee-engagement-manager-statistics