It seems workers took the “gotta lock in” meme to heart last year.
Around 19% of global workers were fully engaged at work in 2024, according to an ADP survey of nearly 38,000 workers in 34 markets. That share marks a record high since ADP started tracking engagement a decade ago, and a significant increase from the 14% low recorded in 2020.
Despite this, just one in five workers reporting being fully engaged at work is relatively low. Employers would probably be wise to consider new ways to drive engagement within their workforce.
“While engagement is low, employers can do things that can increase that number,” Mary Hayes, director of research of people and performance at ADP’s research institute, told HR Brew. The report examined two factors that could have a significant impact in improving engagement: work location and team.
Location, location location. Where one works is a big factor in employee engagement. Employee engagement has increased as RTO orders have expanded; around 56% of global workers said they worked on-site every day in 2024 (65% in the United States), two percentage points higher than in 2023. Despite this, ADP’s research showed hybrid workers were still the most likely to report being fully engaged—a finding that’s aligned with past research.
Flexibility in where and when one works is just one of three key drivers of engagement, Hayes said. Freedom to choose how one works and autonomy to make one’s own decisions are the other two. While hybrid and remote workers may have more flexibility, Hayes said in-person workers may have more freedom or autonomy.
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“Every organization is a little bit different and finding that balance [between freedom, flexibility, and autonomy] is what needs to happen within that organization,” Hayes said. “If you can’t give people the flexibility that they think they need, then work on: You have the autonomy to figure out how to get this work done, and the freedom of the speed, or however long it takes to complete a task.”
Teamwork makes the dream work. Being on a good team matters. Members of high-performing teams were over five times more likely to report being fully engaged at work than those on average teams. That said, most global workers aren’t satisfied with their current team, with fewer than one in five reporting that the team they’re on now is the best they’ve ever been on (just 24% in the United States).
Leaders and managers should focus on cultivating cohesive teams that are working collaboratively toward a goal, Hayes said.
And while on-site workers were the only group to show year over year improvement in how they felt about the quality of their team, employers with employees who work flexibly should focus on improving this aspect of engagement.
“Leaders can help foster that team environment by allowing everyone to live their strengths and talk about them,” Hayes said, noting that managers can ask questions such as “Why is this important to you? Why do you like doing this? If there was one thing we could take off to your plate ,what would it be? So team building, team sharing.”