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Every year, Gallup publishes the world’s most comprehensive study on the employee experience. The 2026 report has just been released, and its subtitle sets the tone: "The Human Side of the AI Revolution." A powerful signal. This year, Gallup is no longer just talking about engagement. It is addressing the major question mobilizing all leadership teams: how artificial intelligence is transforming, or not transforming, the world of work.Here is what you need to remember, backed by the numbers.
This is the central alarm bell of the 2026 report: global employee engagement has dropped to 20%, down from 21% the previous year. This is the first time in over a decade that engagement has declined two years in a row. And it is the lowest level recorded since 2020, the year of COVID.To put the figures into perspective: in 2022, global engagement reached its historical peak at 23%. In three years, three points have vanished. Each point represents approximately 21 million workers worldwide. This is not a statistical nuance; it is a fundamental trend.And the cost? According to Gallup, disengagement cost the global economy approximately $10 trillion in lost productivity last year, or 9% of global GDP.Relative good news: in the long term, engagement remains 8 points higher than in 2009, the first year of measurement. The decline is real, but it does not erase the progress of the last fifteen years.
The 2025 report sounded an initial alarm: a drop in global engagement from 23% to 21%, with managers as the main explanatory factor. Manager engagement had dropped from 30% to 27%. A shock.The 2026 report confirms and worsens this observation. Manager engagement plummeted by 5 points this year, from 27% to 22%, representing a total loss of 9 points since the 2022 peak of 31%. But the big news in the 2026 report is the entry of artificial intelligence as the common thread of the analysis. Absent as a structural theme in 2025, AI occupies a central place this year. And the results are, to say the least, disturbing.
Companies are investing massively in AI. But according to a MIT study cited in the report, 95% of organizations have observed no measurable impact on profits despite approximately $40 billion in investments. A NBER survey of nearly 6,000 leaders in four countries confirms this: 89% of them see no effect on labor productivity.Yet, at an individual scale, results are positive: 65% of U.S. employees in organizations that have deployed AI say it has had a positive impact on their own productivity. But only 12% say it has transformed the way work is done in their organization. There is therefore a clear paradox: AI helps individuals but does not yet transform organizations. And according to Gallup, the key to this equation is the manager.
In organizations that have deployed AI, employees whose manager actively supports the use of these tools are 8.7 times more likely to say that AI has transformed the way they work, and 7.4 times more likely to feel that it opens up new opportunities for them to do their best. Yet, less than a third of U.S. employees in these organizations say their manager actively supports the adoption of AI. In Germany, this figure drops to 21%.Gallup's verdict is final: in the AI revolution, the manager is the decisive factor. Not the technology. Not the budget. The manager.
After a period of decline, global employee well-being progressed by one point, rising from 33% to 34% of workers "thriving." This is modest, but it is the first increase in three years. Europe and Latin America show the strongest progress (+2 points each). Daily negative emotions, stress, anger, sadness, remain, however, above pre-pandemic levels. The improvement in well-being is real, but fragile.
The Belgian data deserves particular attention. According to the 2026 report, only 11% of Belgian employees declare themselves engaged in their work. This is below the European average, already low at 12%, and well below the global average of 20%. As a reminder, in the 2025 report, this figure was 10%, so Belgium gains one point, which constitutes a slight improvement. But the level remains structurally low. On other indicators, the picture is more nuanced: 60% of Belgian employees declare themselves "thriving," a figure significantly higher than the global average of 34% and among the best in Europe. The job market is perceived positively by 66% of Belgian workers, one of the highest scores on the continent. On the other hand, 43% of Belgian employees report feeling stress daily, a level slightly higher than the European average of 39%. Belgium therefore presents a paradoxical profile: workers who are overall thriving in their lives, but poorly engaged in their work. A gap that deserves reflection, and which serves as a reminder that well-being and engagement are not synonymous. One can exist without the other, but it is rarely enough for a high-performing organization in the long term.
The 2026 report is not a list of bad news. It is a navigation map. It clearly indicates where the levers for action are located.
AI does not deploy itself. It needs managers who carry it, explain it, and support their teams through this change. And for that, these managers must themselves be engaged, supported, and equipped.
The 9-point drop in three years did not happen overnight. It was built up progressively, under the radar, in teams where no one detected the weak signals in time. Regular monitoring of manager sentiment, distinct from that of employees, is now essential.
The fact that your teams use AI and are satisfied with it is a good thing. But if this does not translate into changes in collective processes, the value remains limited. It is a work of culture as much as a work of tools.The Gallup 2026 report poses a simple but staggering question: in a world where technology is moving at top speed, are you investing in the right variable? The data shows that this variable is the human. And at the heart of that human, it is the manager.
Sources: Gallup, State of the Global Workplace: 2026 Report; Gallup, State of the Global Workplace: 2025 Report.
From HR digitalization to AI integration and new employee expectations, the human resources sector is rapidly changing. Based on responses from over 450 Belgian companies, our report gives you a head start to prepare your teams and strategy for the realities of tomorrow.
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