Younger employees are feeling significantly more detached from their jobs and their employers—in fact, everyone is, except for boomers, who are more engaged than ever. That’s according to a new poll from Gallup.
Since the pandemic began four years ago this month, engagement has dropped off dramatically among young and middle-age workers. The report, which Gallup published on Feb. 29, measured employee engagement through 12 factors, most of which assess feelings of satisfaction, recognition, and being cared for and supported.
Of the group, millennials and Gen Zers reported the greatest declines in “feeling cared about by someone at work, having opportunities to learn and grow, feeling connected to the mission of the organization, having progress discussions with managers, being given opportunities to develop, and feeling that their opinions count.”
The share of older millennials actively engaged in their work fell from 39% to 32% in that time; Gen Z’s rate dropped from 40% to 35%, and Gen X’s dropped from 35% to 31%.
As Gallup’s chief scientist of workplace management and well-being Jim Harter wrote in the report, that means Gen X employees’ engagement ratio dropped from 2.1 to 1.7. In other words, “for every actively disengaged employee, there are now less than two engaged ones.” Among older millennials, that engagement ratio has dropped from 3.3 to 1.9, meaning there’s slightly more than two engaged employees for every actively disengaged employee from that age group.
Those depressed figures come at a cost: It’s significantly more expensive to replace talent than it is to nurture the talent you do have, and a disengaged employee is much likelier to keep an eye on the job boards.
Today’s young workers, more so than older generations, invest in their growth and look for jobs that serve an important purpose, Harter told Fortune in an email. Since 2020, they’ve felt less cared about and have found fewer opportunities that align with their desires.
“In short, they feel more disconnected from their employers and are more likely to be actively looking for new work or watching for openings,” Harter wrote, adding that a good amount of those feelings may have stemmed from the uptick in remote and hybrid work, especially for new workforce entrants. “Without a plan around in-person time and regular coaching conversations with their manager, physical distance turns into psychological distance,” he said.
The same issue hasn’t plagued older workers as much, given how many of them had established themselves in their careers long before the pandemic hit. Those years honing skills and developing their workforce identities has made them more resilient to the dramatic changes over the past few years, Harter wrote.
“It is interesting that before the pandemic, baby boomers reported lower engagement than younger workers,” he said. “Even though clarity of expectations has dropped for employees in all generations, six in 10 baby boomers know what is expected of them, compared to less than one in two for younger employees.”
Adding insult to injury, boomers were also more likely to tell Gallup they work in jobs where they can do what they do best, feel connected to their company’s mission, and respect their fellow employees.
That may be of cold comfort to employers, whose employee base is likely composed mostly of young workers who are less loyal and less likely to stick around for more than a year or two.
The good news: Even though every worker not feeling engaged would likely give a different reason for their dissatisfaction, companies can nonetheless bridge the gap with all the same tools. Communicating a clear vision, outlining consistent job responsibilities, and prioritizing mentorship—in person once in a while—are the cornerstones of a productive, engaged workplace. But for younger workers in particular, an emphasis on flexibility (meaning flexible hours and work location) is quickly becoming a nonnegotiable. After all, nothing lowers company morale like being forced to do something you don’t want to do.
