When asked if they felt sadness a lot of the day, a quarter (26%) of UK employees said 'yes', according to advisory firm Gallup’s State of the Workplace 2025 report.
This proportion has continually increased since 2021, when Gallup recorded that 19% of UK employees felt sadness at work.
UK workers were also among the most disengaged in Europe: just 10% of UK employees feel engaged at work, according to the Gallup survey.
The report also found that 41% of UK employees felt stressed at work; this proportion has remained relatively stable since 2021.
Employee disengagement, stress and sadness could be fuelled by a lack of skills development, stated Dominic Holmes, management consultant for HR software provider Cornerstone's thought leadership and advisory service.
Holmes told HR magazine: “Many employers aren’t doing enough to support their employees’ skills development. As a result, people are left feeling unmotivated or unprepared for the fast-changing world of work. It might seem like the easy fix is to offer more training, but there's a 'skills confidence gap'; a disconnect between what employers think they’re offering and what employees actually experience.
Read more: Three steps to improve happiness and productivity
He emphasised that there is a connection between low levels of engagement at work and feelings of stress and sadness: “One major driver is uncertainty about the future, especially with the rapid rise of AI and automation. People are asking: 'Will there still be a place for me in the workforce?'
“The key to improving engagement and wellbeing is helping employees gain the human skills they need to thrive in tomorrow’s workplace. It’s about aligning personal growth with business success, and that can only happen when organisations prioritise workforce agility at pace and scale. Closing the future readiness gap is about giving people the confidence they can grow with technology and not be left behind.”
To improve employee wellbeing and engagement, employers must focus on improving authenticity, purpose and control within an organisation, added leadership coach Dave James.
Speaking to HR magazine, James said: “If an organisation wants to reduce the amount of sadness for employees, increase their happiness, reduce their stress and increase their engagement, they should be moving those three things in a positive direction.
“Authenticity means that staff can come to work and be themselves as much as they possibly can. Aligning the meaning and purpose of organisations to the meaning and purpose of the individuals gives them a connection and helps them to reduce the amount of stress they feel in the business. And finally, giving them more control over the work that they do allows them to feel that they're actually part of the change going on.”
Researchers at Gallup also found that 30% of UK employees reported watching for, or actively seeking, a new job last year. One in six (17%) UK employees also reported feeling anger at work.
In order to improve morale and wellbeing, managers should feel cared for, said Hasan Khair, cofounder of tyllr, a wellbeing platform for managers.
He told HR magazine: “When [managers] are trained well, supported consistently and feel genuinely cared for, the whole team dynamic changes. Trust increases, engagement improves and performance becomes more sustainable.
“When work lacks meaning, feels hollow or thankless, it’s inevitable that stress and sadness follows. Managers have a disproportionate ability to influence both wellbeing and engagement of employees for the better, but only if they feel valued, seen and part of something that matters.”
Read more: One in five employees are fully engaged at work
HR leaders have the potential to make a big difference to an organisation’s wellbeing, emphasised Matthew Morris, creator of mental health training platform, Emotional First Aid.
“HR leaders are in a unique position and have the potential to make significant improvements to workplace cultures. Our message to them all is: first aid yourself; please look after yourself and consider what you need to work at your best. Like many who are drawn towards looking after others, we are not always great at self-care and responding to our own needs. Not looking after ourselves can bring a range of emotions and reactions that mean any attempt to address workplace cultures will not work.
“Sometimes, the most powerful thing a manager can do is listen – not fix, not analyse; just hold space. Engage with yourself and others with the three C’s of compassion, curiosity and creativity.”
Luke Bullen, head of UK and Ireland at workplace wellbeing training platform WellHub, emphasised the strong link between stress and engagement.
He told HR magazine: “Our research found work stress is the primary cause of deteriorating mental health for nearly half of employees, creating a negative feedback loop where stress reduces engagement and disengagement increases stress.
“I see this pattern constantly in the data. When people disconnect from their work's purpose, stress and sadness follow naturally. Equally, when employees are stressed, they simply can't engage fully. By focusing on meaningful wellbeing initiatives that build community and purpose, HR leaders can make progress on both fronts simultaneously. This isn't about spending more, it's about spending smarter on integrated approaches that recognise wellbeing and engagement as two sides of the same coin.”
The primary data in the State of the Workplace 2025 report comes from the Gallup World Poll, through which Gallup has conducted surveys of the world’s adult population, using randomly selected samples, since 2005.
