What Gallup's generational engagement data reveals about the skills every leader needs
Recently, in a session on engagement across the generations, I asked a room full of leaders to rank four generations from most engaged to least: baby boomers, Gen X, older millennials, and the group Gallup now reports together, Gen Z and younger millennials.
Almost everyone got it wrong and that says a lot about the stories we tell ourselves about who actually wants to work.
What the numbers show
Overall, about 31% of U.S. workers are engaged. This means they bring real energy, focus, and discretionary effort to the job. Here’s the breakdown of engagement by generation in 2025:
- Baby boomers — 34%
- Gen Z and younger millennials — 32%
- Older millennials — 30%
- Gen X — 29%
The generation we most love to accuse of not wanting to work, Gen Z and the younger millennials, is more engaged than Gen X. Older millennials, another favorite target, edge out Gen X too.
I find that fascinating, because "this generation doesn't want to work" is one of the things I hear leaders say, and the data doesn't support it.
But that's not the part of this data that hurts my heart.
The real story is the decline
In 2020, Gen Z and younger millennials weren't the least engaged generation. They were the most engaged, sitting around 40%. Then it shifted, and it shifted hardest for the youngest workers, who fell from about 40% to 32%.
The story isn't "young people showed up not caring." It's "young people showed up caring, and something happened."
The engagement items that dropped the most for Gen Z and younger millennials between 2020 and 2025 are:
- "My supervisor, or someone at work, seems to care about me as a person." — down 13 points
- "This last year, I have had opportunities at work to learn and grow." — down 11 points
- "I know what is expected of me at work." — down 9 points
- "There is someone at work who encourages my development." — down 9 points
- "The mission or purpose of my company makes me feel my job is important." — down 9 points
Older millennials show almost the identical fingerprint — a 12-point drop in feeling cared about, a 10-point drop in having someone who encourages their development, a 9-point drop in someone talking to them about their progress, and an 8-point drop in feeling their opinions count.
Someone cares about me. Someone encourages me. Someone talked to me. My opinions count. Not one of them is about pay, hours, or perks. Every one of them comes down to three things every human being wants at work, no matter when they were born: to feel seen, heard, and valued.
These aren't the complaints of people who've checked out. They're the questions of people still hoping someone will check in.
And this is where it gets harder
Now layer on the moment we're in. We are building AI into our work, and I'm a believer. Used well, it makes us faster and sharper.
Every tool has a side effect. The more we automate, the more personal contact quietly disappears. The feedback that came from a manager now comes from a system. The check-in becomes a dashboard. The progress conversation becomes a notification.
At precisely the moment the data says people feel less seen, less encouraged, and less talked to, we're deploying tools that make it easier than ever to have less human contact.
That's not an argument against AI. It's an argument for being wide awake about what AI can't do and being international about the human skills it can never replace.
The skills that move the needle for every generation
Here's the good news: roughly 70% of the variance in a team's engagement traces back to the manager. Not the generation on the roster, not the industry, not the technology, it’s the leader. The behaviors that make people feel seen, heard, and valued are learnable skills. Here's what they look like in practice.
Set clear expectations. People can't feel valued doing work they don't understand, and "I know what's expected of me" was one of the steepest drops for a reason. Clarity isn't a one-time conversation; it's ongoing. Make expectations explicit, revisit them when priorities shift, and never assume silence means understanding.
Listen like it changes something. "At work, my opinions seem to count" is falling, and people know the difference between being asked and being heard. The skill isn't just letting people talk. It's asking genuine questions, staying curious, and visibly acting on what you learn. When someone sees their input change a decision, they know they matter.
Give feedback that builds, not just corrects. People want to know where they stand, and vague or rare feedback leaves them guessing. Strong feedback is specific and timely. Name the behavior, connect it to its impact, and point to what comes next. (At People Spark, we teach this as Behavior–Impact–Tomorrow.) Done well, feedback is one of the clearest signals that a leader is paying attention.
Catch people doing things right. Recognition is the simplest way to make someone feel seen and the most underused. It costs nothing and takes seconds — but it must be specific and genuine. "Nice job" is noise; "the way you handled that frustrated customer kept us from losing the account" is a gift. Notice good work out loud and do it often.
The bottom line
None of these skills belong to a generation, and none of them can be automated. They're built through practice. Leaders who master them will have the most engaged teams in an era when genuine human attention is getting more rare, not more common.
Engagement was never a personality trait that arrived (or didn't) with a birth year. It's built by leaders willing to be clear, to notice, to listen, to encourage, and to genuinely connect in the small human conversations each day.