Gallup’s “2026 State of the Global Workplace” report analyzes the global employee experience, based on surveys conducted in more than 140 countries. It evaluates key indicators such as work engagement, personal well-being and daily emotions as predictors of resilience and business performance.

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Global Work Environment Indicators

Globally, the picture shows a stagnation in commitment after years of improvement:

• Only 20% of employees are engaged (highly involved and enthusiastic) with their work. 64% are disengaged (they put in time, but not energy) and 16% are actively disengaged (they can undermine the team’s achievements).
• 34% of workers consider that they are prospering (positive view of the present and future).
• Managers emerge as the critical link: since 2022, their engagement has fallen 9 points globally, with the largest annual drop occurring between 2024 and 2025. The report highlights that without motivated and well-managed middle leadership, teams underperform their potential.

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Commitment and productivity: a proven relationship

Low labor engagement cost the global economy approximately $10 trillion in lost productivity in 2025, equivalent to 9% of global GDP. The estimates are conservative because they do not add the additional costs associated with low engagement, such as accidents, turnover, absenteeism or healthcare costs.

Gallup meta-analyses consistently show a strong relationship between employee engagement and productivity at the business unit level, including profitability and sales. Teams with disengaged or actively disengaged employees generate less profitable organizations, which in turn translates into lower economic growth.

Researchers at Stanford, Harvard Business School and MIT found that differences in management practices explain approximately 30% of the variation in total factor productivity. Effective people management is a skill that few organizations systematically develop, despite its direct impact on performance.

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The State of Labor in Europe

Europe presents the greatest challenge in terms of emotional attachment to the company:

• Europe reports the lowest engagement in the world, at only 12%. The vast majority of workers in the region (73%) are in the “not engaged” category.
• Despite low engagement, well-being is high compared to the global average, with 49% of employees reporting that they are thriving in their life.

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Spain vs. Europa

The specific data for Spain show important nuances in comparison with its regional environment:

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• Commitment Deficit: Spain is below the European average in terms of work commitment (10% compared to 12% in the region), which indicates a deeper emotional disconnection of the Spanish worker with his or her organization.
• Well-being: Although Spaniards report levels of well-being (46%) well above the global average (34%), they are slightly below the European average (49%).
• Stress: The level of daily stress in Spain(39%) is significantly higher than in other European countries such as Poland (23%) or Germany (19%), approaching the world average of 40%.
• Market Perception: There is marked pessimism in the job search; only 34% of workers in Spain consider that it is a good time to find a job, a figure much lower than the 52% overall.