The Coaching Cafe Podcast

Gallup 2025: engagement matters - how coaching helps

• Open Door Coaching

Share episode

The Gallup State of the Global Workplace 2025 report has just landed. 

Call us nerds, but we dropped everything to download it. Like many, we hoped to see improvements in global workplace engagement. After all, increasing engagement feels like a shared crusade among leaders, coaches, and organisations alike. 

Now join Natalie and Paula as they kick off a new series of Coaching Cafe Podcasts. This series will focus on enabling effective performance conversations - which may be a worrying time for some, given low engagement scores. But first let’s get a handle on the current state of our workforce in today's podcast. 

Thanks for listening! If you enjoyed the podcast please leave us a 5 star review where ever you listened to us! It helps promote the podcast to streaming services and other people.

Watch the webinar of this episode or read the blog by visiting our website.

Contact The Coaching Café Podcast

Thanks for listening!

[Music] Welcome to the Coaching Cafe Podcast. The Gallup, State of the Global Workplace 2025 report, has just landed. Join Natalie and Paula as they kick off a new series of Coaching Cafes, explore in this report and giving their insights on it. Enjoying the podcast, consider leaving us a five-star review. We acknowledge the traditional owners and custodians on the lands on which we meet today and they continue reconnecting to the land, borders and communities of Australia. We pay our respects to them, their elders past, present and emerging. Well, it's a very good morning for some of you. It's a very good afternoon for some of you and it's a very good evening for some of you. Welcome to the Coaching Cafe. My name is Natalie Ashton, wherever you might be joining us around the world today, all listening on your favourite streaming service. Today we're talking about is-employee engagement on the brink of collapse. And I'm joined, as always, by our resident HR Specialist Paula Jones. Welcome, Paula. Thank you. We're glad to be here. And we have people dialing in from all around the world. So we've got Tokyo, we've got Calgary, we've got New York City represented, Canada, down the road in Sydney, Beijing, India, Japan. Welcome to your Royal Royal Royal Royal, we're obviously to this. And a shout out to all the people who are downloading our podcast as well. And numbers are going through the roof at the moment. It's very exciting. So thank you for joining us. Well, let's get into our topic today. We've got lots to talk about. And really, we're going into performance conversation season here in Australia. If you are on the chat, you can interact with us and tell us what's happening in your area of the world as well. But we're heading into performance conversation season here in Australia. And with that in mind, we're going to start a new season of Coaching Cafe. So that how do we enable performance conversations using a coaching approach? But to kick that off, just newly released, it only dropped this week. We've got the Gallup State of the Global Workcase report for 2025. And that is our focus for today. And we're going to take a look at these headlines. Is the global workplace at break-up point? If you're a nerd like me, you would have been watching out for the Global Report to Drop. And I'll talk about my reactions to it as we go along. But the click headline was pretty extreme, actually. Is our global workplace at a breaking point? We will discuss that today. And we want to discuss it in the context of engagement, which is our big questions that we'll be asking. So if you are new, welcome. We have some new people dialing in from around the world today. We are here to have thought-provoking conversations. We're here to build a community. We're here to share our ideas, stretch our coaching knowledge skills and our coaching mindsets. And if you are also collecting your ICFCCs, welcome. We have those available to you at the end of the session. Just stay on the line and take a screenshot at the end. Okay, let's get into our conversation. If you want to interact with us, please do just hit us up in the chat box, pop your message up in there and we will collect those as we go along. Wonderful to see so many people on the line. Let's get into our conversation. So you can find the state of the Global Workplace report from Gallop. You can go to gallop.com. Just type in state of the Global Workplace and you will find the report there and you can download it. I was thinking about this morning. I've been following the Gallop research for many, many years now and they are globally one of the largest surveys on employee engagement on the pulse of our Global Workplaces. And what I love about them is they also go into the detailed page of the country. So I'll be really looking at Australia statistics today. But if you do download the report, you can go straight to the pages which are for your country. And yes, India, Japan, USA, Canada, think about the people that we have represented on the line here today. All of those statistics, Southeast Asia are all included in the report. So the big headline, let's talk about the big headlines. Are we on the brink of a global collapse in terms of engagement in the workplace? That's what we're thinking about. And the report says that last year, Global Employee Engagement Cell costing the world economy $438 billion US dollars in terms of lost productivity. So the headlines are screaming and the numbers are huge. What the report is saying that the primary cause was a drop in manager engagement. And since the pandemic, managers been asked to cover demands with executive demands, employee expectations, etc. And we're starting to see the toll. So I have to tell you personally, we've been on a crusade at Open Door Coaching trying to build in employee engagement. It's what we do through our coaching skills. And so when I opened the report, I was hoping for better. Maybe it's the optimist in me just wishing that all the work we had done from a ripple effect is rippled out across the world. Well, I know everybody on the line is making a difference and we are making a difference. We still do have a long way to go. And that's what we want to talk about today, how we can shape engagement and the future of our workplaces. So what caused the decline? It's manager engagement that actually caused the decline. It fell from 30% to 27% individual contribution stayed flat. But I've got a graph here on the screen. And what it's showing is actually an increase in engagement since about 2015. Then we got a drop to about 20% around COVID and lockdowns, etc. But then over last couple years since COVID, we actually started to get that engagement back, which is interesting, isn't it? Because a lot of people are saying that people working from home engagements, be treason, etc. But basically we did get a bit of an uplift off the back of COVID once we came out of those lockdowns in 2022, 2023. But then a big decline, 2% decline in 2024. So Gallup are actually saying this is the first big drop actually for over 12 years. So only in 12 years has has engagement dropped. And so that's where the headlines coming from. So Paula, just your initial reactions will get into the detail here that your initial reactions were, you're a bit of a nerd like me. You were probably opening the report. I think for an increase in engagement because all the work we do be coaching as an alumni and as coaches around the world, we're trying to build that engagement. So to see a little drop there, was that a little bit of a heart drop video as well? Yeah, well, from a personal perspective, it always makes me feel sad that when you look at a step like that, it says is a lot of people going to work who aren't engaged, who aren't happy, who aren't living their best life doing what they want to do and that makes me really sad. I don't think I was surprised as much. I've seen lots of, particularly from a HR perspective, but when you look at that manager engagement, I think if you looked at HR engagement, it has been taking a hit, I think, since COVID very much so that the industry as a whole is struggling in the space. So, I mean, yes, I would love to see engagement on a trajectory that goes off the scale because then it means that overall we've got happy people going to work, but I don't think I was surprised. Yeah, thank you. And actually, that's a really good point. So those are the things that haven't seen the report before. We're talking about 21% engagement, which talked you about a decrease from 23% last year. And Paula, you're absolutely spot on. It means that only one in five people in our workplaces globally are totally engaged. They are coming to work, they're happy, they've got the means to do their work and they're engaged in their work, which means there's a lot of people who are not. And organisations use these kind of benchmarks to go, well, our engagement is at this level. So we're above the global average, which is the good thing. And so the statistics are used in a lot of different ways, but when we look at the fact that globally, only 20% are engaged, it really does make you wonder and make you feel a bit sad, I agree. So let's go to the Australian statistics. And as I mentioned, if you're in other parts of the world, you can easily and quickly go and find the statistics for your area as a region, Australia, and I'm really wrapped that they've actually isolated Australia and New Zealand, because in past reports, we were under the banner of OSEANUM, which included many other countries. So in chance of a Australian engagement, our engagement is tracking at 23%, which is 2% above the global average. But it really stands out to me that 65% of people who answered the survey, and we're talking about thousands of people, so that they were not engaged in their work, and 12% actively engaged. So we've got a very large percentage of people within the Australian workforce who are not engaged in their work at all. Now, interestingly, the headline screened, are we on the brink of collapse? If you look at the Australian data, we are nudging up one percent per random. So if we go back to 2018, we were 15, then it's 18, 1919, nudged up to 2022, in 2022, in 2023, and 23% in 2024. And I calculated for us to get up to 70, you know, it's going to take another 70 years, but we would hope that's not actually the case. So yeah, Australian statistics haven't dropped like the global statistic. We're trending a little bit ahead, but I don't think it's anything to write home about, actually. And it's the next chart that particularly worries me. The next chart, I'm actually showing is the historic drops in actually thriving and well-being, and here Australia and New Zealand are not doing well. Back in 2011, the statistic of the percentage of people who were thriving in their roles, thriving in terms of their well-being, thriving in their roles was 69%. Today, it's 56%. So it's a really dramatic drop over that period of time, a big drop actually from 2023 to 2024. In terms of comparing us to our United States and Canadian colleagues, United States dropped from 60% down to 52. So they are a little bit below Australia, but the drop in Australia is quite significant. So Paula, you've been delivering a lot of mental health first aid courses. You're really in this space having a really good think. This, this, this, this, thriving percentage is a concern to me. We want people to be thriving in our workplaces. And we're seeing this drop in Australian workplaces. So what's your take on that? I think it's a healthy, it's not just the workplace. I think, I think you have to, we have to look at it helistically. It says, what are all the impacts on people at the moment? So when you think about that, you go the cost of living, if we think about the, what's the cost of living, what can I buy with my money? Now that I, you know, that I used to be able to buy more with before, I think spending overall has dropped because people worried about what will this means in the future. So that worry, and it is included in whether or not you're thriving. And then I think there's lots of in the workplace, I feel like the, the, there's more, there's less people doing more work. So you're having to work more, you take on more responsibilities, you're doing different, different things. And so then you are taking up time that you might previously been spending at home with your family and friends, but you're spending it at work. And then when you do go home, are you disconnecting? Are you making sure that you know, that you're eating well, that you're exercising, that you're doing all the things that contribute to really good health? So I think that's when we're thinking about that thriving piece. It is about how am I feeling, how am I feeling in regards to the relationships that are really important to me, how am I feeling when I go to work, what is my overall feeling? And so yes, I think that drop from 2023 to 24 is quite significant. Yes, thank you. Yeah, I agree with you. And definition of thriving, thank you Nicole. Yeah, it is having the ability, skills and capability to be doing, to be doing great work. So you've got the skills, the capability, the agency to be able to do that overall, you are feeling well, the feeling healthy, mentally healthy, physically healthy as well. So all of those factors come into the thriving indicator. Yeah, so I, you know, I have to, as I mentioned, share with you that I literally opened up the report hoping to see better numbers. And then as you go into the report, you're seeing numbers that are actually quite concerning in our workplace. The good news is we are as an alumni, as a community, as a global coaching force, I suppose, in exactly the right spot we need to be in order to help globally turn around these statistics. And as far as I've said, everything we can do, the coach manages to coach their people to make a difference. And let me show you the reason why I've got some more statistics for you from the report. First of all, so let's talk about the good news now because I don't want you all leaving the webinar completely worried and concerned. I'll let some, let's talk about the good news here. The good news is that Gallup suggested that we ensure all managers receive training to cut extreme management disengagement in FAR. So that's suggesting that if we train more managers and particularly train any coaching skills, we can actually cut the extreme management disengagement in FAR, less than half of the world's managers, 44% in fact, say that they've received management training. There's so much more that we can do. It kind of makes me think, well, no wonder they're struggling. If they haven't had training, if they haven't had the skills and knowledge and the ability to self-reflect and build that self awareness to actually manage the challenges that they're facing in the workplace, then no wonder. You're listening to the Open Door Coaching Coaching Cafe podcast. And for more information on programs run by Open Door Coaching, head to our website at opendoorcoaching.com.au. Now back to the podcast. And of course, you know that we have our certificate for in Workplace and Business Coaching and our diploma. That's not what we're here to talk about today, but we are here to talk about how do we as leaders, as coaches, as role models enable our managers to be further trained. And that doesn't have to mean in the classroom. It could be on the job through opportunities, etc. The other interesting statistic which came out of Gallup, straight out of the Gallup report, remembering that they have strengths, their strengths, reports, etc. and they are very big into coaching as an organisation as well. They say that the other big thing is teach managers effective coaching techniques to boost the manager's performance by between 20 to 28%. They say that managers have a natural gift for inspiring and developing people, many do, but some don't. So it's about working on that mindset to actually be focusing on your, is to how you're inspiring people, how you're developing people. And managers of the key, as we know, they're talking about that middle management layer because if they're disengaged, then their staff become disengaged. So the more we can do the role model to do anything we can to build their coaching effectiveness to build their coaching techniques, at 8% up within performance. That is massive. And that's what we're aiming for throughout the work that we all do together. And the final thing is that there's an opportunity, significant opportunity to increase manager wellbeing by 32% through ongoing management development. That's what they've actually estimated at Gallup. They say that when employers provide manager training, it improves managers' arriving levels from 28% to 30%, 34%, but here's the big thing is people have been trained. So if your managers have training and someone at work actually actively encourages their development, management, thriving increases of further 50%. These are massive numbers in terms of what we can do together as a global coaching industry to make real inroads here. And it might sound like I'm on my bad wagon. And for those people that know me every now and again, I am on a bad wagon. I really, I really want us to think about even more about how we can enable engagement, how we can enable people to thrive in the workplace, all the work that you do enables that. It's just that now we have got some even better statistics to back up the work we do. What we know is now evidenced with even better statistics, a 32% increase in wellbeing and encouragement to that as well as your training a 50% increase in thriving. Their numbers, I think we can all strive for. And it might sound like I'm telling everybody what they already know, but now we've got the data to back up what we already know. Okay, Paula, go and jump in. I can see you nodding and smiling there. I guess there's a couple of things I was recently running a program and the and the comment I got from several senior managers was I wish I had done this years ago. I wish I knew this and when I had started my my leadership journey because it would have made such a big difference. So introducing coaching into their toolkit would have made a really big impact from the beginning and think of all the people that they've managed and led over the years and what impact that could have had on people. So I really love those statistics on the previous page that says if we invest in our managers in their actual development, it has a ripple effect going through the organization. And the other thing is, you know, lots of engagement in organizations, you know, there's lots of work, they do an engagement survey and then it's all about, you know, from a wellbeing perspective, we'll do morning teas or put on pizza, we'll come up with really great, you know, like we'll give people incentives for doing things. But what that statistic on your second one was, was said, if you actually invest in the development of people, it actually invests in their wellbeing. And so you get a double effect. So if they're if people are thriving, they're more likely to be productive with no longer wasting $438 billion in no productivity. So in that engagement piece, instead of focusing on the peripheral things, what if we focused on investing in people and create and helping them be the best in the role that they are, and then we would get an uplift across the board. Yeah, look up, there's no argument from here, from me, on that floor, and I think no argument from anyone. And it makes me wonder like what's it going to take to actually get that uplift? And how can we, even if we don't have budgets for training and of course we're in the performance conversation budget cycle now, if we don't have budgets for training, how can we role model these? How can we find ways to, as you many years ago said to me, every coaching question we ask counts, you know, do you coach in one coaching question at the time? So like you said with those senior leaders, how can we get those tools into the hands of the right people, have them coaching, one coaching question at the time, to get that uplift that we're actually looking for? So there are great questions that we can think about, that we can take away as an alumni, we can think about the role that we're playing and how we actually build that. And as I said, when we're talking about 23%, we're talking about 70%, you know, the 77% of the work for force that is not engaged. There's so many people that are going to work potentially unhappy, coming home, potentially unhappy, and the impact that that has on families and friends, etc, is quite significant. So anything we can do in this regard, I agree with you. So I'm open to other thoughts and comments you have on Paula before we go, but I also want to flag with everyone, what we're going to be taking look over the next couple of weeks is the performance conversation season is actually a critical season. And if you're going into this season in your country, it's a really important time because performance conversations and the annual reporting time really makes or breaks employee engagement as far as we're concerned, how managers do those conversations, how we enable a coaching approach to those conversations is really critical. So we wanted to kick off talking about engagement today, and then go into our next three or four webinars, talking about performance conversations, with how we can enable managers to do those better. We'll also be having Coach Week, International Coach Week is coming up in the next couple of weeks as well. So we'll be celebrating International Coach Week together as an alumni, watch out for those events. But as I said, the next the next period that we're going into, I think can potentially have a massive impact on engagement or cement the negative engagement scores we've got. So it'll be really interesting to explore that together with you as well. Paula, just some final thoughts before we finish up? Yeah, I think your mind for our managers going into performance review season, I think our minds that actually is the critical approach, there's a critical tipping point. If we go into this season going, oh god, do those performance reviews or drag, then that's how it's going to feel. Whereas if we go into it thinking, how can we have an impact in this particular round? How do we have an impact? How can I have great conversations with my people that's actually going to connect in with them and think about their wellbeing and their development opportunities? And it just changes how you are approaching that performance review process. And so for us coaches as well, listening to our coaches and they're going to start having these conversations, how we're thinking about that mindset, I think is really important. Yes, absolutely, Paula. And I'm going to stop you right there because that is going to be the first topic that we actually discussed. Oh, I don't want you to give it a wall away. Everyone's going to come back next week then and hear about that as well. But absolutely, and the big questions you're asking are the questions we need to consider how to employ performance conversations, enable or disable engagement in the workplace and what has minds it got to do with that. So thank you very much for definitely be looking at that. Well, there you are, everybody. Of course, we have our certificate forum, web placement business coaching, our deployments as well. I see a level one on level two programs. There's a lot of different things we're doing. So if you would like to engage with us over that you can. So thank you to those that have you that are new. We hope that you enjoyed our presentation today. We are back again next week, as I said, moving into that performance season and to all our people listening online. Thank you so much. It just really lifts our hearts when we see that so many people have engaged with us online as well. So thank you once again. As always, yeah, I'm not apologizing if this sound is a bit, you know, just I just want these engagement scores to turn around. So I'm ashamed of we are just saying that I hope it didn't sound too evangelistic, but I'm just so passionate about people and as we are all here at Open Door about that. So I'll say go you good things. Go enjoy your coaching. Go continue to make a difference and we'll come back and make a difference to performance conversations next week as well. Enjoy your coaching everyone. We'll say goodbye for now. Thanks for listening to this episode of the Coaching Cafe podcast. You can watch the full video of this podcast on our website. I'll put a link in the show notes. We'll see you at the next Coaching Cafe.