For years, organisations have been told that measuring employee engagement is the key to unlocking better performance, retention, and wellbeing. And yet, despite the explosion of surveys, scores, and sophisticated models, something isn’t adding up.
Engagement remains stubbornly low. Burnout is on the rise. Many employees still describe work as draining rather than fulfilling.
So what’s going wrong?
And more importantly, what should we be doing differently?
At People Lab and The EX Space, we’ve been asking these questions — and looking for better answers. That’s why we’re excited to share the brand new 2025 Benchmarking Report, which takes a fresh, critical look at the world of employee engagement (EE) and employee experience (EX).
Ahead of the official launch, we’re hosting a live webinar to lift the lid on what we found — and why it matters for every organisation trying to design better work in 2025 and beyond.
Benchmarking is Messy — But It Matters
One thing became clear very quickly: benchmarking employee experience and engagement is messy.
There’s no universal definition of either term.
No standard model everyone agrees on.
And no single measurement tool that gives you the full picture.
From Gallup’s Q12, to eNPS (and many other options to choose from!), each approach focuses on different outcomes — motivation, advocacy, wellbeing, meaning, belonging. Even when the same tools are used, organisations tweak questions, interpret results differently, and end up comparing apples with oranges.
And yet, the demand for benchmarks is still growing.
Senior leaders want simple numbers. HR teams want evidence to shape strategy. EX professionals want to track progress.
But here’s the risk: chasing the numbers can distract us from changing the experience.
Key Insights from the 2025 Benchmarking Report
Without giving too much away, here are just a few teasers from what we uncovered:
🔹 Employee engagement globally has fallen again — with Gallup’s 2025 report showing just 21% of employees are engaged, the lowest level since the pandemic.
🔹 Confidence in leadership has become one of the strongest — and most fragile — drivers of both engagement and experience. Trust gaps are widening, particularly among younger workers.
🔹 Human-centered design is emerging as the future of EX.
The organisations making the biggest strides aren’t just surveying employees more often — they’re redesigning the everyday experience of work, focusing on trust, meaning, growth, and belonging
Join Us for the Live Webinar
If you’re serious about making a real difference to engagement and experience in 2025, this webinar is for you.
We’ll share:
✔️ Highlights and provocations from the 2025 Benchmarking Report
✔️ How to make sense of benchmarking in an increasingly messy landscape
✔️ A reminder of how the EX Lens will help you to understand what makes a great experience at work
✔️ Ideas for moving beyond measurement to meaningful action
🎁 Plus: Everyone who registers will join the list to be amongst the first to receive their copy of the full report following the session.
📅 Thursday 15th May | ⏰ 14:00 BST | 📍 Online
Register here to secure your place
Don’t just measure.
Design. Shape. Act.
Let’s make 2025 the year we stop chasing scores — and start creating experiences that truly matter.
