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Here’s a sentence no business wants to read: Global employee engagement has dropped again.
According to Gallup’s 2025 State of the Global Workplace report, engagement fell from 23% to 21% last year — a dip that matches the worst of the COVID-19 era. In short, we're back to lockdown levels of disengagement. From the report:
“In 2024, the global percentage of engaged employees fell from 23% to 21%. Engagement has only fallen twice in the past 12 years, in 2020 and 2024. Last year’s two-point drop in engagement was equal to the decline during the year of COVID-19 lockdowns and shelter-in-place orders.”
What does that actually mean in real terms? Well, Gallup estimates that the resulting slump in productivity cost the global economy $438 billion in 2024 alone. (And yes, you read that right: Billion, with a “B.”)
That’s nearly half a trillion dollars lost in a single year, all because people around the world are turning up to work mentally checked out. The most surprising revelation is that the majority of these disengaged employees aren’t junior staff. In fact, the biggest drop in engagement came from managers.
Manager engagement fell from 30% to 27%, the steepest decline of any job group in the study. Young managers (under 35) were hit particularly hard, dropping five points. And female managers fared worst of all, with a sharp seven-point decline.
These statistics come together to form a flashing red warning light; one that L&D should be paying particularly close attention to.
Did you know that 70% of a team’s engagement is directly influenced by their manager? Unsurprisingly, if your managers are struggling, this creates a ripple effect that spreads out to the company culture, employee performance, wellbeing, and retention.
We’ve all seen it. A manager who would’ve once talked your ear off, bright-eyed and full of ideas, steadily starts to switch off. They’re overwhelmed, unsupported, lacking training… and their own performance begins to slip.
1:1s get shorter. Feedback becomes reactive, if it even happens at all. Recognition disappears. And the team around them starts to feel it more and more acutely. Eventually, the cost of disengaged employees causes your best people to leave — often silently.
It’s death by a thousand, invisible cuts.
For L&D professionals, this is your cue to step in. But you don’t control workload or resourcing – you can only control the development and support systems that could prevent this spiral in the first place.
It’s easy to assume that managers are innately equipped to lead – but it’s not that simple. Although some people undeniably have that “it” factor that makes them predisposed to be a confident and capable leader, it’s unrealistic to say that a person can simply be born fully equipped with all the necessary skills and behaviours.
Everyone needs guidance, no matter how naturally skilled they are.
Gallup’s data shows that only 44% of managers globally report having received formal training for their role. If you’ve had your finger on the pulse of this issue for a while, this stat unfortunately won’t come as a surprise to you. Just a couple of years ago, research by CMI found that 82% of workers entering management positions have not had any formal management and leadership training, adding to the UK’s stock of “accidental managers.”
It’s disheartening to see that the issue still prevails, but the good news is that L&D are well-positioned to mitigate it. Get ready for a controversial statement: Training works. (Yes, we know, it’s a truly shocking stance for a Learning Management System vendor to take!)
So, what are the benefits?
Reduces disengagement: Gallup found that even basic role training cuts active disengagement among managers by half.
Boosts performance: Coaching-focused development improves manager performance by 20–28%.
Increases team engagement: Teams see engagement gains of up to 18% when managers are properly trained.
Improves wellbeing: Targeted development raises the number of managers who say they’re “thriving” from 28% to over 50%.
Delivers measurable ROI: Clear evidence that training leads to better individual and organisational outcomes.
… Or, perhaps more importantly, is the training in question just not fit for purpose?
Let’s be honest. Management training often falls into one of two categories:
Neither prepares anyone for the complexity of real-world leadership.
When it comes down to it, following a process isn’t how to train managers effectively. It’s more complex than that; a cocktail of key traits that form the basis for a person’s ability to adapt, have difficult conversations, build trust, and motivate their team.
That’s why a one-off course or workshop won’t cut it. The need itself is complex, and therefore the answer should be too. Managers need practical, human-centred, just-in-time support. And your learning platform should be the engine behind it.
It’s time to move away from seeing manager training as a box-ticking exercise, and towards seeing it as a strategic business lever. Here’s how to improve team performance through L&D – starting at the top.
Don’t just throw learning at someone the day they become a manager. Understand the entire journey — from first-time leader to experienced senior — and design learning that evolves with them. Make it as role-specific, timely, and repeatable as possible.
Though a whopping 141 pages long, the Gallup report’s conclusion is anything but convoluted. The advice is clear-cut: Managers who are trained in coaching see performance gains across the board.
Use your LMS to enable this. Through structured skills pathways, your potential managers can reach their goals in a linear, achievable way.
Manager burnout is rising. So instead of tacking wellbeing on as a separate topic, embed it into your manager's learning paths. Teach manager burnout solutions and manager wellbeing training. Normalise boundary-setting. Make space for conversations around stress. (This will benefit everyone, as managers will be set up to facilitate these conversations amongst their own teams.)
Managers learn best from each other. Use social features in your platform to enable peer learning — think community broadcasts, coaching-based leadership training, webinars, success stories and support. Sometimes, the best learning comes from a “been there” anecdote.
When Gallup modelled what would happen if engagement reached 70% globally, the answer was mind-blowing: a US$9.6 trillion boost to global GDP — about 9% of the entire world economy.
That’s the prize on the table. And it starts with well-trained, well-supported managers.
If L&D leaders want to have real influence, this is the moment to act. Your LMS, your programmes, your strategy: they all need to make manager development priority number one.
Although hard-working, confident, and able to spin more plates than a circus act, managers are not bullet proof. They’re not inherently equipped to motivate others just because they were good at their previous job.
But with the right support, they can become culture carriers, engagement drivers, and performance catalysts.
And that support starts with learning.
Looking for a platform that can nurture managers from day one? Book a Thrive demo today.
Explore what impact Thrive could make for your team and your learners today.
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Here’s a sentence no business wants to read: Global employee engagement has dropped again.
According to Gallup’s 2025 State of the Global Workplace report, engagement fell from 23% to 21% last year — a dip that matches the worst of the COVID-19 era. In short, we're back to lockdown levels of disengagement. From the report:
“In 2024, the global percentage of engaged employees fell from 23% to 21%. Engagement has only fallen twice in the past 12 years, in 2020 and 2024. Last year’s two-point drop in engagement was equal to the decline during the year of COVID-19 lockdowns and shelter-in-place orders.”
What does that actually mean in real terms? Well, Gallup estimates that the resulting slump in productivity cost the global economy $438 billion in 2024 alone. (And yes, you read that right: Billion, with a “B.”)
That’s nearly half a trillion dollars lost in a single year, all because people around the world are turning up to work mentally checked out. The most surprising revelation is that the majority of these disengaged employees aren’t junior staff. In fact, the biggest drop in engagement came from managers.
Manager engagement fell from 30% to 27%, the steepest decline of any job group in the study. Young managers (under 35) were hit particularly hard, dropping five points. And female managers fared worst of all, with a sharp seven-point decline.
These statistics come together to form a flashing red warning light; one that L&D should be paying particularly close attention to.
Did you know that 70% of a team’s engagement is directly influenced by their manager? Unsurprisingly, if your managers are struggling, this creates a ripple effect that spreads out to the company culture, employee performance, wellbeing, and retention.
We’ve all seen it. A manager who would’ve once talked your ear off, bright-eyed and full of ideas, steadily starts to switch off. They’re overwhelmed, unsupported, lacking training… and their own performance begins to slip.
1:1s get shorter. Feedback becomes reactive, if it even happens at all. Recognition disappears. And the team around them starts to feel it more and more acutely. Eventually, the cost of disengaged employees causes your best people to leave — often silently.
It’s death by a thousand, invisible cuts.
For L&D professionals, this is your cue to step in. But you don’t control workload or resourcing – you can only control the development and support systems that could prevent this spiral in the first place.
It’s easy to assume that managers are innately equipped to lead – but it’s not that simple. Although some people undeniably have that “it” factor that makes them predisposed to be a confident and capable leader, it’s unrealistic to say that a person can simply be born fully equipped with all the necessary skills and behaviours.
Everyone needs guidance, no matter how naturally skilled they are.
Gallup’s data shows that only 44% of managers globally report having received formal training for their role. If you’ve had your finger on the pulse of this issue for a while, this stat unfortunately won’t come as a surprise to you. Just a couple of years ago, research by CMI found that 82% of workers entering management positions have not had any formal management and leadership training, adding to the UK’s stock of “accidental managers.”
It’s disheartening to see that the issue still prevails, but the good news is that L&D are well-positioned to mitigate it. Get ready for a controversial statement: Training works. (Yes, we know, it’s a truly shocking stance for a Learning Management System vendor to take!)
So, what are the benefits?
Reduces disengagement: Gallup found that even basic role training cuts active disengagement among managers by half.
Boosts performance: Coaching-focused development improves manager performance by 20–28%.
Increases team engagement: Teams see engagement gains of up to 18% when managers are properly trained.
Improves wellbeing: Targeted development raises the number of managers who say they’re “thriving” from 28% to over 50%.
Delivers measurable ROI: Clear evidence that training leads to better individual and organisational outcomes.
… Or, perhaps more importantly, is the training in question just not fit for purpose?
Let’s be honest. Management training often falls into one of two categories:
Neither prepares anyone for the complexity of real-world leadership.
When it comes down to it, following a process isn’t how to train managers effectively. It’s more complex than that; a cocktail of key traits that form the basis for a person’s ability to adapt, have difficult conversations, build trust, and motivate their team.
That’s why a one-off course or workshop won’t cut it. The need itself is complex, and therefore the answer should be too. Managers need practical, human-centred, just-in-time support. And your learning platform should be the engine behind it.
It’s time to move away from seeing manager training as a box-ticking exercise, and towards seeing it as a strategic business lever. Here’s how to improve team performance through L&D – starting at the top.
Don’t just throw learning at someone the day they become a manager. Understand the entire journey — from first-time leader to experienced senior — and design learning that evolves with them. Make it as role-specific, timely, and repeatable as possible.
Though a whopping 141 pages long, the Gallup report’s conclusion is anything but convoluted. The advice is clear-cut: Managers who are trained in coaching see performance gains across the board.
Use your LMS to enable this. Through structured skills pathways, your potential managers can reach their goals in a linear, achievable way.
Manager burnout is rising. So instead of tacking wellbeing on as a separate topic, embed it into your manager's learning paths. Teach manager burnout solutions and manager wellbeing training. Normalise boundary-setting. Make space for conversations around stress. (This will benefit everyone, as managers will be set up to facilitate these conversations amongst their own teams.)
Managers learn best from each other. Use social features in your platform to enable peer learning — think community broadcasts, coaching-based leadership training, webinars, success stories and support. Sometimes, the best learning comes from a “been there” anecdote.
When Gallup modelled what would happen if engagement reached 70% globally, the answer was mind-blowing: a US$9.6 trillion boost to global GDP — about 9% of the entire world economy.
That’s the prize on the table. And it starts with well-trained, well-supported managers.
If L&D leaders want to have real influence, this is the moment to act. Your LMS, your programmes, your strategy: they all need to make manager development priority number one.
Although hard-working, confident, and able to spin more plates than a circus act, managers are not bullet proof. They’re not inherently equipped to motivate others just because they were good at their previous job.
But with the right support, they can become culture carriers, engagement drivers, and performance catalysts.
And that support starts with learning.
Looking for a platform that can nurture managers from day one? Book a Thrive demo today.
Explore what impact Thrive could make for your team and your learners today.
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