For the first time in three years, global employee wellbeing is showing signs of recovery. According to the latest findings from Gallup, the percentage of employees worldwide considered to be “thriving” rose from 33% to 34% in 2025 — a modest but meaningful shift after several years of decline following the pandemic peak in 2022.

The improvement, highlighted in Gallup’s global workplace research, was especially visible in Latin America and the Caribbean and Europe, both registering a two-point increase in wellbeing indicators. Yet the report also reveals a more complex reality behind the numbers: stress, anger and sadness among employees remain significantly higher than pre-pandemic levels, suggesting that emotional strain has become embedded in the modern workplace rather than simply a temporary aftershock.

One of the clearest signals emerging from the research is that wellbeing is deeply tied to meaning. Employees report stronger engagement and higher life satisfaction when they perceive their work as intrinsically rewarding, impactful to others, and connected to a sense of personal agency. In other words, purpose and autonomy are no longer cultural “extras” — they are structural drivers of performance and resilience.

The data also exposes a growing emotional paradox in leadership. While leaders tend to report higher overall life evaluations and stronger engagement than individual contributors, they simultaneously experience substantially higher levels of stress, sadness, anger and loneliness in their daily lives. Gallup’s findings suggest that leadership today increasingly combines visibility and influence with emotional burden and social distance.

Importantly, engagement appears to soften that pressure. Managers and leaders who feel genuinely engaged in their work report lower levels of negative emotions and significantly higher levels of overall thriving. As organizations continue integrating AI into workflows and decision-making, Gallup argues that leaders must focus not only on operational adoption, but on the human experience surrounding it — ensuring that technology supports, rather than erodes, wellbeing and connection at work.

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Source: Gallup Global Workplace Report