Dive Brief:
- Actively disengaged employees, or those who actively oppose their employer’s goals, comprise 15% of the global workforce and better job markets tend to be associated with lower levels of active disengagement, according to Gallup’s 2024 State of the Global Workplace.
- Fifty-one percent of respondents across the U.S. and Canada are not engaged at work, compared with 33% who are and 16% who are “actively disengaged,” according to the report, which studied more than 183,000 business units across 53 industries and 90 countries. The analysis found that 59% of employees in the region believe it is a good time to find a new job, while 49% said they are watching for or actively seeking a new job.
- Employees who are exclusively remote or those who have hybrid work schedules showed the highest rates of engagement in the U.S., with 36% of remote employees and 35% of hybrid workers being engaged, Gallup says. Likewise, 62% of hybrid employees feel they are “thriving,” compared with 59% of remote employees and just half of the on-site workers surveyed, according to Gallup’s analysis.
Dive Insight:
As companies balance leadership’s desires for a return to the office with employees’ desire for work flexibility, most organizations have settled on hybrid work models, according to JLL’s 2024 Global Occupancy Planning and Benchmark report. Eighty-seven percent of those surveyed by JLL said that their organization currently has a hybrid program, with 49% stating plans to expand their hybrid model in the next three years.
The Gallup report showed a number of benefits to worker sentiment as a result of this shift to hybrid work models. Hybrid workers reported experiencing less daily anger and loneliness than those with exclusively remote or on-site work schedules. Additionally, the poll found that a majority of hybrid and on-site employees believed the job climate in their area is favorable, with 60% in each group expressing optimism about the job market, compared with 56% of remote employees who shared a positive job market outlook. The regional average of those who felt it was a good time to find a job fell 11% from 2022 to 59% in 2023, according to the report.
Gallup also noted that the intent to leave one’s current job is higher among younger employees, with 60% of workers aged under 35 actively looking for another job or staying abreast of new opportunities, compared with 46% of employees 35 or older.
Labor laws and employee engagement
Labor laws contribute significantly to employee engagement, the report says. Employees in countries that have laws aimed at fair wages, workplace safety, family responsibilities and maternity report the lowest stress levels, per the report. Independent of labor laws, however, employee engagement is related to optimism about the future, Gallup says.
“The labor rights categories most highly correlated with current thriving in life were areas of maternity, fair wages, social security, employment security, fair treatment, and safety,” Jim Harter, chief scientist of workplace management and wellbeing at Gallup, wrote in a June 12 blog post. Employees who feel engaged at work, in countries with strong labor laws, have the highest overall wellbeing, Harter noted.
The importance of labor rights in employee sentiment and well-being is increasingly evident as many states and regions around the U.S. address labor laws, wage gaps and safety concerns. The U.S. Department of Labor’s overtime rule update, which mandates overtime pay for workers making less than $58,656 annually, with provisions for automatic increases starting Jan. 1, 2025, is facing a lawsuit from a group of plaintiffs that claim the rule violates the Fair Labor Standards Act. At the same time, heat-related laws in Texas, Florida and Phoenix are under scrutiny, with some states preventing cities from enforcing mandatory water breaks.
