We read all the state of the workplace roundup reports this year so you don’t have to.

Every year, new “state of work” reports arrive with glossy covers, confident headlines, and the promise that this one will finally explain what’s happening to work. 

And every year, HR and L&D professionals read them with a familiar sinking feeling. 

Because these aren’t abstract trends. In a down year, like 2025: 
They’re your managers burning out. 
Your leadership pipeline quietly cracking. 
Your employees staying—but checking out. 
Your AI pilots creating more anxiety than impact.  

This post is your one-stop roundup of some of the most-cited work reports heading into 2026 pulled into one place and put in conversation with each other.  

Translation: we’re connecting dots across HR priorities—engagement, manager burnout, AI adoption, and the “do more with less” era—so you can stop report-hopping and start sounding like you did. 

The big ideas – AKA the tl;dr of 2025  

Work systems are under strain, and there is a growing opportunity for HR and people leaders to help organizations adapt in smarter, more human ways that drive wellbeing and ROI. If you’re in a hurry – here's what you need to know at a glance. 

21% of employees globally are engaged at work, and the US is down a point from last year, now sitting at 31% 

A global engagement decline across industries and roles signals a systemic issue, not a sudden drop in individual motivation. And what’s more – managers account for 70% of the variance in employee engagement. 

 Fewer than 1 in 5 CHROs say they have leaders ready to fill critical roles.  

Leadership expectations have evolved faster than leadership scaffolding. Organizations are expecting leaders to do more, but readiness hasn’t kept pace – pointing to a support and development gap rather than a talent shortage. And if you’ve got time – other data suggests Gen Z are avoiding leadership roles on purpose for this reason.  

51% of leaders who plan to leave in the next year are not fully engaged today. 

Engagement metrics are a more meaningful statistic than retention. 

It used to be that retention was a significant marker and indication of productivity on its own – but this research shows that retention is no longer a reliable indicator of workplace health. Engagement measurements reveal risk earlier and more accurately.  

AI is accelerating what already exists in your workplace – and how it’s implemented matters more than how it’s used.  

AI doesn’t create trust or prevent burnout – it magnifies them. AI alone is not a secret weapon that will solve all workplace challenges. Where organizations pair AI adoption with empathy, clarity, and enablement, outcomes improve. Where AI is layered onto already stressed systems, strain increases.  

HR is uniquely positioned to become an architect of new modern work systems. 

Organizations that elevate HR from an administrative function into a strategic “anticipator” role gain a clear edge: 33% more high-quality leaders and 2X greater likelihood of top-tier financial performance.  

Let’s look at these ideas in greater detail below.  

Leadership Capacity Is Under Pressure—and Organizations Are Starting to Name It 

Across nearly every report, leadership readiness stands out as a growing concern. 

DDI’s HR Insights Report 2025 found that fewer than 1 in 5 CHROs believe they have leaders ready to fill critical roles. Gallup reinforces the stakes, showing that managers account for up to 70% of the variance in employee engagement. 

What’s notable is how the conversation has shifted. 

Rather than blaming individual leaders, the research increasingly points to capacity and design issues. Leaders are being asked to coach, empathize, execute strategy, adopt AI, manage wellbeing, and deliver results—often without the time, clarity, or development needed to do all of that well. 

What helps: 
The research consistently shows that leadership improves when development is: 

• Practical and role-specific 

• Embedded in real work 

• Focused on daily behaviors, not abstract competencies 

Teaching managers effecting coaching techniques can raise manager performance from 20% to 28%. Teams that had managers who were receiving coaching training also saw an increase in engagement. 

When employers provide manager training, it improves manager thriving levels from 28% to 34%. However, if they have training and someone at work actively encourages their development, manager thriving increases even further to 50%. When we consider the additional influence of great managers on their teams, manager training and development may be one of the most effective “wellbeing initiatives” employers can invest in. 

This is where L&D plays a critical role—equipping managers with learning that fits into their workflow, reinforces expectations, and supports sustainable leadership behaviors over time.  

Engagement Is Shifting—and That Shift Is Telling Us Something Important 

At first glance, the engagement data is discouraging. 

Gallup reports that global employee engagement fell to 21%, down from 23% the previous year. At the same time, turnover in many organizations has stabilized. 

These two datapoints aren’t contradictory—they’re revealing. 

DDI cautions that “the real crisis isn’t who’s leaving—it’s who’s staying but has stopped caring.” Employees are conserving energy, prioritizing stability, and disengaging quietly when work feels unsustainable. 

What helps: 
Research suggests engagement improves when organizations: 

• Clarify priorities and reduce competing demands 

• Equip managers to coach, not just monitor 

• Design work that allows for focus, recovery, and autonomy 

For HR and L&D, this reinforces the importance of manager enablement and learning that supports better work—not just better attitudes. 

Productivity Theatre Is a Symptom, Not the Diagnosis 

One of the most human insights in the 2025 data is the rise of productivity theatre. 

According to HR Magazine, two-thirds of workers say they engage in “productivity theater”—performing work to appear productive rather than to drive real impact. This might look like scheduling a lot of meetings, over-documentation or late-night emails, or decisions that are revisited endlessly.  

This behavior isn’t about laziness or disengagement. It’s what happens when: 

• Expectations are unclear 

• Performance is measured by activity instead of outcomes 

• Visibility feels safer than focus 

What helps: 
Productivity theatre declines when organizations: 

• Define outcomes clearly 

• Train managers to set expectations upfront 

• Reward impact over busyness 

From an L&D perspective, this means helping managers build skills around goal-setting, feedback, and prioritization—practical capabilities that directly reduce wasted effort and improve performance. 

AI Is Highlighting Where Work Design Matters Most 

AI appears in nearly every 2026 outlook—but with more realism than hype. 

DDI found that organizations are 9.1x more likely to succeed with AI when leaders combine change readiness with empathy. ADP cautions against expecting immediate productivity gains simply because AI tools are introduced, warning that this creates unrealistic pressure on people and technology alike. 

Academic research adds an important lens: automated management and surveillance technologies are associated with higher stress and lower job satisfaction when used primarily for monitoring. 

What helps: 
The research points to AI success when organizations: 

• Position AI as augmentation, not oversight 

• Provide training and context—not just tools 

• Communicate clearly about how AI is used 

This reinforces a core L&D principle: adoption improves when people understand why and how tools support their work—not when they’re simply deployed and measured. 

Managers Are the Fulcrum—and They Need Real Support 

Managers sit at the center of every trend in these reports. 

Gallup shows manager engagement declining faster than individual contributor engagement. DDI highlights that burnout is quietly eroding leadership pipelines, even when retention appears stable. 

Managers aren’t resisting leadership—they’re absorbing the impact of every competing priority. 

What helps: 
The research is consistent: outcomes improve when organizations treat manager support as core infrastructure, not an extra program. That includes: 

• Ongoing, practical development 

• Peer learning and coaching 

• Clear decision rights and realistic scope 

This is where continuous learning—short, relevant, and easy to access—makes a measurable difference. 

Wellbeing Is No Longer a Perk—It’s a Performance Indicator 

One of the strongest points of alignment across sources is how wellbeing is now understood. 

Research from Johns Hopkins’ HCD Lab shows that wellbeing is driven primarily by workload, autonomy, predictability, and fairness, not individual resilience alone. ADP’s 2026 trends report finds that organizations that deliver genuine employee care see better engagement and productivity outcomes. 

This reframing matters. 

Wellbeing isn’t separate from performance—it’s part of the system that enables it. 

What helps: 
Organizations see improvement when they: 

• Audit workload and capacity 

• Align flexibility with realistic expectations 

• Train leaders to recognize and manage burnout signals 

For HR and L&D, this means focusing less on wellness programming alone and more on how leaders are taught to design and manage work. 

What To Do About It: Research-Backed Moves That Are Encouraging For the Future 

The encouraging takeaway from all this research is that the data does move—when systems change. 

Here’s what the evidence suggests makes the biggest difference: 

1. Redesign leadership development around real work 

Organizations with proactive, anticipatory HR functions are 2x more likely to be top financial performers. 

2. Invest in managers as a business capability 

Managers drive up to 70% of engagement variance—small improvements here create outsized impact. 

3. Replace activity metrics with outcome clarity 

Clear expectations reduce productivity theatre and free up capacity for meaningful work. 

4. Embed learning into the flow of work 

Development that’s practical, accessible, and continuous is more likely to change behavior than one-time programs. 

5. Introduce AI with transparency and enablement 

Empathy-driven change management increases AI success 9.1x  

6. Treat wellbeing as a design principle 

Organizations that align work design with human limits consistently see stronger engagement and performance.  

The Big Takeaway for HR & L&D 

When read together, these reports don’t say the workforce is broken. 

They say the opportunity is clear. 

The organizations that will thrive in 2026 and beyond won’t be the ones that push people harder—they’ll be the ones that design leadership, learning, and work in ways that allow people to perform sustainably. 

And HR and L&D are already closest to the levers that make that possible. 

The data isn’t a verdict. 
It’s a roadmap.  

If you’re interested in how BizLibrary can take you there – ask us for a demo!