The data that got my attention
Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace: 2026 report, based on 2025 data, finds global employee engagement at 20%, the lowest since 2020. The headline many leadership teams missed is underneath that number. Manager engagement fell from 31% in 2022 to 22% in 2025, with a five-point drop in the last year alone. For the first time in years, the people expected to stabilize teams are now only marginally more engaged than the people they lead.
The gap has collapsed. In 2022, managers were eight points more engaged than individual contributors. By 2025, the gap was three points. That compression is the early warning signal for the next wave of turnover, because disengaged managers rarely build engaged teams.
Why this matters now
Organizations are running two major experiments at once: flattening management layers and adding AI tools into daily workflows. Both increase the load on the managers who remain. The result is a capacity problem that shows up first in survey scores and later in resignation rates.
Managers account for roughly 70% of the variance in team engagement across business units. When their own engagement drops nine points in three years, the effect does not stay in the management tier. It transfers downward through daily interactions, goal setting, feedback quality, and the perceived credibility of company priorities. The 2025 data suggest this transfer is already underway.
What the research actually shows
Gallup’s global data from 2025 and the organization’s span-of-control research point to the same structural issue. Managers are carrying more direct reports and more individual contributor work simultaneously. The table below summarizes the key figures.
| Metric | 2022 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Global employee engagement | 23% | 21% | 20% |
| Global manager engagement | 31% | 27% | 22% |
| Manager-IC engagement gap | 8 pts | 4 pts | 3 pts |
The U.S. manager engagement rate is higher at 36%, but it has also fallen. Best-practice organizations still reach 79% manager engagement, which shows the decline is not universal. It is concentrated where the role has expanded faster than the support around it.
Gallup’s span-of-control research adds another layer. In the U.S., 97% of managers report having some individual contributor responsibilities, and they spend a median of 40% of their time on that work. Managers who exceed the 40% threshold have lower engagement, and the gap widens as the number of direct reports increases. Organizations that widen spans without reducing manager workload are not just saving money on headcount. They are trading management quality for short-term efficiency.
A practical framework for leaders
The managers who stay engaged are not simply more resilient. They work in systems that protect their capacity to lead. Leadership teams can build those systems with three focused steps.
- Audit how managers actually spend their time. Track the percentage of each manager’s week spent on individual contributor work, meetings, administrative tasks, and direct people leadership. If IC work exceeds 40%, the role is out of balance regardless of team size.
- Right-size spans and protect the 8-to-10 range. Research shows management quality degrades beyond 8 to 10 direct reports. Median spans have grown past 12 in recent studies. High-performing teams need managers who have enough bandwidth for coaching, feedback, and career conversations.
- Invest in the specific skills that reduce manager overload. Delegation, coaching, performance conversations, and conflict management are the skills that let managers lead more people without doing the work themselves. Generic leadership content does not change behavior; deliberate practice does.
Start with a pilot group of managers who carry the heaviest load. Measure their time allocation, engagement scores, and team retention before and after the changes. Use that evidence to justify wider investment.
The bottom line
Manager burnout is not a motivation problem. It is a design problem. The manager role has widened while support has stayed flat, and the 2025 Gallup data now show the consequence in engagement scores. Organizations that protect manager capacity will protect team engagement. Those that keep adding initiatives without adjusting the job will keep watching the numbers fall, and the turnover will follow within 12 to 18 months.
Where to go from here
Leadership teams need a clear view of where manager capacity is breaking before burnout becomes turnover. Start with an assessment that measures workload, span of control, and the people skills managers need most, then build a targeted development plan for the managers who carry the heaviest load. executive coaching.
