Workplace trends are shifting from “quiet quitting” to “job hugging”, with employee engagement declining globally and sharply in South Asia particularly India, according to Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace 2026 report, as reported ET.Released on Wednesday, the report analysed employee mood and well-being across 160 countries and found that engagement has declined for the second consecutive year. South Asia recorded the steepest drop globally, along with the lowest share of employees identifying as “thriving” and the highest levels of daily sadness.In India, the report shows a mixed but concerning trend. While the share of actively disengaged employees has declined over the past 15 years, recent data points to a reversal in engagement levels, indicating that quiet quitting has taken hold in workplaces. Managers too are witnessing declining engagement.Long-term data shows actively disengaged employees fell from 31% in 2010–12 to 18.47% in 2023–25. The “not engaged” category declined marginally from 59.98% to 59.02%. The proportion of engaged employees rose from 9.03% to 22.51%, though it had peaked at 33.17% during 2020–22 before declining again.Manager engagement dropped sharply from 39% in 2022–24 to 30% in 2023–25.“The big question is whether Indian workplaces have enough great managers who can deliver an engaging experience to their direct team members. This is something that the whole world is struggling with — lack of talented managers and an increased span,” said Puneet Singh, Regional Director (Research and Analytics) for Asia-Pacific at Gallup.The report defines workplace engagement as the psychological connection employees have with their work, teams and organisations, measured through 12 parameters including recognition, development support and learning opportunities.It notes that the fall in engagement is being driven not by actively disengaged workers but by the growing pool of “not engaged” employees — commonly referred to as quiet quitters.“Quiet quitting implies that workers work for themselves, do not offer any discretionary effort at work, and have no connection to the mission or purpose of the organisation. Loud quitting or actively disengaged employees are those who are disgruntled or working actively against the organisation — they are angry, unhappy and insist on sharing it with others,” Singh said.The report said low engagement levels have wider economic implications.“While engagement occurs at the team level, employees who are not engaged or actively disengaged lead to less profitable organisations, which, in turn, translates into lower economic growth,” it said.Globally, manager engagement declined from 27% in 2024 to 22% in 2025, marking the sharpest annual drop. South Asia, led by India, recorded the biggest regional fall with an eight-point decline.Beyond engagement, the report highlights worsening employee well-being. South Asia recorded just 16% of respondents as “thriving”, compared to the global average of 34%. The region also reported the highest daily sadness at 36% versus 23% globally, and higher anger levels at 31% compared to 22% globally.In India, emotional stress indicators have worsened over time. Reported anger rose from 28% in 2008–10 to 34% in 2022–24, while sadness increased from 24% to 39% during the same period. In 2025, anger stood at 31% and sadness at 36% based on a three-year rolling average.The report is based on long-term global surveys conducted by Gallup since 2005 using randomly selected adult samples. The 2025 dataset includes responses from 141,444 employed individuals aged 15 and above worldwide.In India, the sample size for the 2023–25 rolling period stood at 3,095 respondents, with all engagement insights derived from unweighted survey data.
