Five years ago this week, the World Health Organization declared Covid-19 a pandemic, sending workers home from the office and shuttering businesses worldwide. Since then, we’ve experienced a shifting job market, expectations and locations. 

What began as an employee-friendly job market amid  “The Great Resignation” has turned into one where employers are holding the purse strings and workers are feeling as unmotivated as ever. 

This uncertainty has led to the rise of  “The Great Detachment,” what experts are calling this period of falling employee engagement, satisfaction and choice. At its core is “the manager squeeze,” says Jim Harter, chief scientist of workplace management and well-being at Gallup, who published an analysis of the last five years. 

“How people are managed on a daily basis is multiples more important” than hybrid work policies, he says. “The role of first leadership is saying ‘here’s the culture that we want, and here’s how our practices are going to reinforce that culture that we want,’ and then to articulate it in a way that’s clear to employees.”

But how to do that when many folks have been forced to do more with less? 

Managers seem to have gotten the short end of the stick on both ends of the corporate ladder, as they are tasked with carrying on in “the year of efficiency” while also lacking the training and support to coach their direct reports.

This is not only impacting performance and productivity rates (though productivity rebounded at the end of 2024), but such work cultures can be counterproductive to the motto of efficiency. 

“Efficiency becomes more of an uphill battle when folks aren’t in predictable places,” whether that be financially or physically, says Harter. Such uncertainty is one of the reasons engagement rates have plummeted in the last year (read more below on how we arrived at The Great Detachment). 

Yes, it’s a bleak mark for the state of work in 2025, but Harter is optimistic that it doesn’t have to be all doom and gloom––there are still employers out there who are beating the trend. 

Happy reading, and hope you have a lovely week!

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