The Global Workplace Is at a Tipping Point

Employee engagement is falling. Manager wellbeing is in decline. Productivity is under threat.

This may sound dramatic, but Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace 2025 report paints a sobering picture. In summary – it seems almost everyone is sad and disengaged at work – and this has the potential to significantly impact productivity. This is particularly stark in the UK, where 26% of employees said they experience the feeling of sadness a lot within a work day (making the UK the second saddest country in Europe), and only 10% of employees are engaged, ranking 30th out of 38th globally.

But, what can we do about this?

This is a moment for organisations to reset, refocus, and act decisively on workplace wellbeing. Behind the global statistics are real people. With the right support, their experience of work can be transformed.

Key Report Finding: Wellbeing Is Slipping — Especially for Managers

Only 33% of employees globally say they’re ‘thriving’ in life, which is down for the second consecutive year. As seen in previous years, managers are disproportionately affected and some groups more so than others. Female managers saw a 7-point drop in wellbeing last year alone.

Stress, loneliness and disengagement aren’t just statistics — they’re lived experiences. That’s why it’s crucial to understand how your people are feeling, what’s driving it, and what can be done about it.

The Way Forward: Empower and Develop Your Managers

Within the Executive Summary, the report highlights three practical actions that can reverse the trend and set us on a path to a global productivity boom:

1. Provide basic management training
   This halves the risk of active disengagement.
2. Teach coaching skills
   This can boost performance by 20–28%.
3. Support ongoing development
   Ongoing development for managers can increase their wellbeing by up to 32%.

These findings align closely with Robertson Cooper’s approach: evidence-based, psychologically grounded, and focused on creating resilient, healthy, and productive workplace cultures.

How Robertson Cooper Can Help

We work with organisations to measure, understand and improve wellbeing at every level – from the C-suite to the front line. We’ve designed our solutions to –

• Diagnose what’s really going on in your culture and turn wellbeing insights into strategic action with our Good Day At Work Wellbeing Assessment
• Strengthen manager capability in managing stress, talking about wellbeing and understanding their role in wellbeing with our Good Day At Work Manager Training
• Deliver tangible improvements in team engagement and performance with our Good Day At Work Team Programme

We combine organisational psychology with data-driven solutions to help you create more good days at work – for your people and your business.

Now Is the Time to Act

The trends are clear — but so is the opportunity. Gallup estimates that raising global engagement to best-practice levels could add $9.6 trillion to the world economy.

That starts with organisations like yours, taking focused action on workplace wellbeing.

Not sure where to start?

Speak to our Business Development Manager, Mike Davis, to find out how we can support you.