Life Evaluation
Amid ongoing geopolitical tensions, economic uncertainty and continuous technological transformation, employee wellbeing sentiment in Germany is stuck.
According to Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace 2026 Report, 48% of German employees rate their lives well enough to be classified as “thriving,” statistically unchanged compared with the past two measurements, based on a three-year rolling average.
In 2021, a majority of employees (57%) were thriving. After several years of decline, the rate has stabilized. This places Germany in line with the European average (49%), though still above the global average (34%).
Employee Engagement
Germany’s global edge in quality of life ratings does not translate to the workplace.
Gallup’s latest measure of employee engagement in Germany found that 11% of workers are engaged, or emotionally and behaviorally connected to their job. The majority are not engaged (74%), which means they aren’t putting energy or passion into their work. And 15% are actively disengaged, meaning they are more or less out to do damage to their company.
By comparison, the European average for employee engagement stands at 12%, placing Germany near the regional benchmark — while Europe itself, notably, ranks last among all global regions on this measure, a figure that has been broadly stable since 2013 and is significantly below the global average of 20%.
However, Europe also has one of the lowest rates of actively disengaged employees worldwide. That suggests managers here aren’t fundamentally worse at leading people than their peers elsewhere; they simply haven’t yet cracked the code on building high engagement. That’s an important distinction. These aren’t managers who create frustration — they’re managers who haven’t fully developed the skills to meet employees’ emotional needs. The issue, then, isn’t widespread frustration to fix, but untapped motivation waiting to be unlocked through better people management.
Actively disengaged employees cost the German economy $164 billion annually in lost productivity, according to Gallup estimates. Gallup’s understanding of employee engagement is about more than workers’ happiness or satisfaction; it focuses on 12 workplace elements with proven links to performance outcomes.
Our most recent meta-analysis has shown that improving engagement increases a host of positive organizational outcomes, including retention, safety, sales, productivity and profitability. This relationship strengthens in difficult times — Gallup studies show engagement becomes an even stronger predictor of performance during economic downturns.
Some may argue that Germany’s employees are less engaged because, as a culture, Germans value life outside of work more than work itself. But that seems unlikely to be the whole story.
Employees in Germany generally have a positive attitude toward their work. Gallup regularly measures this underlying sentiment using the following scenario: Would employees give up their job if they were financially secure and no longer needed to work? Sixty-five percent say they would continue working.
Satisfaction with one’s own job is also high. Seven in 10 respondents are either extremely satisfied (27%) or satisfied (47%) with what they do daily. A similarly positive picture emerges when looking at overall assessments of their own work situation and working conditions: Seven in 10 respondents are satisfied with their employer as a place to work (27% report being extremely satisfied, while 45% say they are satisfied). Pay is largely perceived as fair and performance-related — that is, employees feel they are compensated appropriately for their work (28% fully agree, and 34% agree).
These responses are a testament to the German work ethic and that the issue is neither related to individual attitudes nor due to broader external conditions; the real challenge lies elsewhere.
If low levels of engagement at work were truly cultural, few or no organizations in Germany would have thriving workplace cultures. But there are such companies: Some organizations Gallup has worked with within Germany have a 40% engagement level, compared to the German average of 11%, and best-practice companies in Germany report almost 60% engaged employees. When leaders choose to make engagement a strategic priority, it is clearly possible to foster an engaging workplace culture in Germany.
Across cultures, we find that all human beings have the same emotional needs at work. Best-practice companies approach the task of increasing engagement with the same rigor, discipline and commitment that they approach other business problems with. They recognize that the manager-employee relationship is the most important driver of engagement. This means that every country can achieve high engagement.
Job Market
Perceptions of the job market in Germany point to growing uncertainty. Two in three German workers (67%) say it is a good time to find a job, down from 72% in the previous measurement. This suggests that employees may be anticipating an economic slowdown. Even though perceptions of the labor market have become somewhat more negative, the 67% of employees in Germany who say that now is a good time to find a job is still 10 percentage points higher than the average for Europe.
However, the data show that opportunities still exist in the labor market for employees willing to leave their current employer. Thirty-seven percent of respondents are actively looking for a job or are generally open to new career opportunities. It is also noteworthy that among those who are willing to change jobs, almost half — 45% — have found job opportunities that interest them within the past three months. Recruitment agencies also remain very active: 31% of respondents have been contacted by a headhunter in the past year.
Employee retention, therefore, remains a key success factor because those who want to leave can still find attractive opportunities. This is likely attributable to the fact that many organizations are still looking for talent, despite the economic slowdown and job cuts in some companies. Last year, there were, on average, 632,000 open positions that could not be filled. Demand for workers is likely to increase in the coming years, as many employees from the baby boomer generation retire and the full impact of this demographic change begins to take hold. The resulting shortage of skilled workers is likely to strengthen many employees’ confidence in their chances.
The likelihood that engaged employees will leave their company is relatively low: 23% of engaged employees are looking for a new job, compared with 64% of those who are actively disengaged.
At first glance, one might think: Companies should be glad when employees who have mentally checked out decide to leave. But in many cases, these employees include people the organization can hardly afford to lose, such as top performers, key talent or subject matter experts.
These individuals did not start their jobs actively disengaged. Active disengagement is the result of what they experience day after day and is, therefore, mostly a “homemade” problem.
Replacing an employee typically costs the equivalent of one year’s salary due to the expense of advertising, hiring and onboarding processes, as well as lost productivity.
Last year, filling an open position with a suitably qualified candidate took, on average, 167 days, which is seven days more than in 2024 and 83 days more than 10 years ago.
Every departure creates disruption for the organization when valuable skills, experience and strong customer relationships are lost. Each move can also trigger a chain reaction whereby those who remain often have to absorb the additional workload, which leads to increased pressure, overtime and employees taking on tasks outside their core responsibilities. Quality may decrease, stress levels increase, and people are more likely to be overwhelmed.
This downward spiral can drive more employees away and lead to even higher turnover, further worsening existing shortages, reducing employer attractiveness and making it harder to attract new talent. In some cases, companies may even have to turn down business or reduce opening hours due to a lack of staff. This is why companies should make every effort to avoid unnecessary turnover.
Engagement and Life Evaluation
In the data, we found that employee engagement is related to workers' wellbeing. Of course, life is influenced not only by work but also by other factors. However, as employees spend much of their waking time at work, workplace experiences play a significant role. Engaged people in the DACH region feel better about their lives overall. Among engaged respondents, 66% are thriving, compared with just 36% of those who are actively disengaged. Engaged respondents are also less likely to report feeling stressed. Fifty-four percent of actively disengaged employees in DACH say they felt stressed the previous day, compared with 35% of engaged workers — a finding that may have implications for their physical and mental health.
Bottom Line
Companies cannot control external circumstances or factors, but they can control their own actions — the organization itself, its culture, the quality of leadership, and thus the motivation of the workforce. Unless companies change how they select leaders and ensure that more managers receive the necessary training to perform their roles effectively, these challenges will persist.
The first challenge for Germany is that manager engagement is low and does not differ much from the engagement levels of employees: 12% of managers in Germany are engaged, while 10% of non-managers are. So, it’s like trying to charge a dead battery with another dead battery. If managers themselves are not engaged, they cannot engage their teams.
The second challenge: Only 27% of managers say they feel supported and developed in their role. That is far too low, especially given that managers account for 70% of the variance in team engagement. When managers feel developed, they are five times as likely to be engaged. When managers are engaged, their team members are also more likely (59% more likely) to be engaged. So, if German workplaces want to build an engaged workforce, they need to prioritize manager development.
What organizations should prioritize in developing managers can be summed up in three key areas, based on the data:
First, it’s about fostering a growth mindset. Currently, only 17% of German workers strongly agree with the statement, “My supervisor inspires me to do more than I thought I could.” Great management unlocks performance in people and inspires them to achieve more than they might think possible themselves.
Second, it requires a shift away from a deficit-oriented leadership style. “My supervisor focuses on my strengths or positive characteristics” — 30% of German employees strongly agree with this today. It’s human nature to focus on what’s wrong with people. But the data clearly show that when leaders focus on strengths and what’s working well, engagement increases significantly because the approach becomes more individualized and empowering. Data show that trying to “fix” weaknesses rarely delivers the same return as investing in strengths.
Third, it requires feedback. Not just any feedback, but feedback that is timely, forward-looking and meaningful. Currently, only about one in five employees strongly agree that they receive this kind of feedback. When done right, feedback has a powerful impact on engagement.
Think of these three elements like a team. One strong player can only do so much. But when all three work together, their combined impact is far greater, lifting engagement from 11% to 49%.
Low engagement is not destiny, in Germany or in Europe. Workers are sitting on the sideline, waiting to get in the game. Moreover, we know which science-based management practices lead to high engagement. Most German organizations simply haven’t applied them yet. The future is bright, if we are willing to seize it.
Download the State of the Global Workplace report to explore global engagement trends and effective employee engagement strategies shaping today’s workforce.
