I recorded this video a couple of years ago or more. It is even more relevant now — only the figures got worse.
Three kinds of people show up at work
According to Gallup's research, on any given team you find three types:
- The engaged — they take initiative, they create, they participate. They're with you.
- The quiet quitters — body present, mind elsewhere. Watching the clock, waiting for retirement, doing just enough not to lose the job.
- The loud quitters — actively harmful. Not neutral drag — corrosive to the team, to the group, and to you as a leader.
The 2026 numbers — and what changed
When I recorded this video, the Gallup study for Europe showed 13% engaged. In the 2026 State of the Global Workplace report, that figure has now dropped to 12%. Europe continues to report the lowest engagement of any region in the world. And this is the first time in Gallup's history that global engagement has fallen for two consecutive years. No region increased engagement in the past year.
Source: Gallup, State of the Global Workplace 2026. Europe: 12% engaged, 73% not engaged, 15% actively disengaged.
The global bill? Approximately $10 trillion in lost productivity, or 9% of global GDP. Before we even count what it costs your company, your country, or the unhappiness of the people themselves. Nobody wins — the disengaged are not happy either.
The factor most managers miss
The biggest lever moving those numbers is not the employees. It is the manager. Gallup's data shows well-led teams reach up to 72% engaged — seven out of ten pulling with you, instead of roughly one out of ten. A trained, charismatic manager can go higher still.
The question worth sitting with
How many people on your team are truly engaged? How many are quiet quitting? How many are actively harmful?
If you are a business leader who wants to change these numbers inside your own organisation, I would like to work with you. I have the tools and the experience to move the engaged figure up, and to build what a real team actually is.
A real team is not people who do what you say. It is people who take responsibility because they see the goal as their own.
Book an appointment with George →
Creating Positive Change for civilization.