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It's the future many executives worried about when they allowed employees to work remotely: according to a new survey by The Conference Board, engagement is down for almost a third of all employees compared to six months ago, and lower engagement is especially common amongst women, Millennials, and individual workers. But this lowered engagement isn't for the reasons you might think.
Although bosses traditionally worry about remote work spurring disengagement, the survey shows engagement was down for workers at a variety of different work locations, including fully remote workers, hybrid workers, and in-office employees, according to a press release. That means there's no evidence that remote or flexible work schedules are at fault. In fact, the exact reasons for the dip remain unclear, although the survey shows a variety of trends that could connect to reduced engagement, including dips in mental health and sense of belonging for more than a third of workers.
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Importantly, though a third of all workers are less engaged, they aren't reducing their effort at work. Overall, 18% of workers report their effort has decreased, while 31% say it's increased, and 50% say it's stayed the same.
Still, employers may want to boost employee morale. So what can they do to keep workers engaged? The survey results offer a few clues. For one, the survey notes that flexible work arrangements remain very important to employees, with a full 70% of workers ranking it as one of the most important benefits a job can offer, outside of pay. Pay, of course, is important, too, with a quarter of workers saying better compensation was their main reason for seeking a new job.
But many employees also report that disappointment with their company has caused them to look elsewhere for employment. Some 36% of employees with decreasing engagement say they want to leave their company because they're disappointed with it, and 20% say they're leaving because they feel they connect more with the mission of a different organization. Overall, disappointment with a company can be a key factor that affects engagement.
Robin Erickson, the Vice President of Human Capital at The Conference Board, says in a press release, "Many workers have reevaluated their priorities since the beginning of 2020 at the outset of COVID. Employees are not only demanding to retain the flexibility they gained from being required to work remotely, but they expect genuine and transparent communications to continue from their leaders as well."
He adds, "That's not to say that pay no longer matters – it's just not the only thing that matters, or even the most important thing."
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