Why Disengaged Employees Are Quietly Costing You Millions — And How To Fix It

Let’s talk about something many leaders know but few truly act on: your people are your business. Not your product. Not your brand. Your people. And according to the latest Gallup Global Engagement data, most of them are just… going through the motions.

Here’s what the numbers tell us:

• Only 20.3% of employees globally are actively engaged in their work.
• A whopping 62.6% are not engaged — they’re just doing enough to keep their jobs.
• And 17.1% are actively disengaged, which means they’re not only checked out — they’re dragging your teams, culture, and results down with them.

Let’s put that in context.

If you have a team of 100 people, only 20 of them are firing on all cylinders. Seventeen are working against you (yes, actively), and 63 are just… there.

Now add this gut punch: disengaged employees cost an average of 34% of their salary in lost productivity, errors, and turnover-related costs. So if your average salary is $75,000? That’s $25,500 lost per disengaged person. Multiply that across a midsize business with 150 employees, and you’re easily looking at millions in unrealized value.

So, what’s going on?

We’re in the middle of seismic shifts in the workplace:

• Economic uncertainty is making teams leaner.
• AI is transforming how work gets done.
• HR is understaffed, overworked, and burning out fast.
• And managers? Many are disengaged themselves — or planning to quit.

One in three managers say they’ll leave their roles in the next 12 months. You can’t build culture on quicksand.

But what can you do? Four suggestions:

✅ Continue to build a resilient culture even amid uncertainty

✅ Re-engage your middle managers and give them tools that actually work

✅ Support overwhelmed HR teams with outsourced coaching and operations experts

✅ Development tools to help leaders thrive through change — not just survive it

In turbulent times, you have to double-down on your culture, your leaders and your people. Because at the end of the day, the most valuable asset in your business isn’t your bottom line. It’s the people holding it up.

Ready to stop bleeding talent, time, and dollars? Let’s build a people-first culture that performs. 🔗 Book a discovery call with KINDempowered

‍