It’s Time to Re-Energise Work and Bring Fulfilment Back in 2026

For years now, we’ve talked about employee disengagement as if it’s a mystery. We’ve analysed it, surveyed it, benchmarked it, and debated whether it’s caused by remote work, generational shifts, or “changing expectations”. But the truth is far less abstract - and far more human.

Employees didn’t suddenly stop caring about work. They became exhausted, disconnected, and disillusioned.

As we head back to work in 2026, it’s time to say: enough of this. Enough diagnosing the problem without changing behaviour. Enough mistaking perks for purpose. Enough asking employees to give more when they’re already running on empty.

If organisations want energy, commitment, and discretionary effort back, we need to understand why disengagement took hold, and then make a deliberate decision to turn it around. Here are six reasons why now is the right time to check in with your team.

Why disengagement has grown

1. Burnout became normalised - Over the last few years, sustained pressure has replaced short-term intensity. Teams moved from crisis to crisis with no real recovery time. Workdays stretched, boundaries blurred, and “doing more with less” quietly became a permanent expectation. When exhaustion becomes the baseline, disengagement becomes a form of self-preservation.

2. Change fatigue set in - Re-orgs, new strategies, new systems, new priorities - often layered on top of each other without closure. Employees were expected to stay positive while the ground kept shifting beneath them. Too much poorly managed change erodes trust. Employees stopped investing emotionally because experience has taught them that today’s direction may not matter tomorrow.

3. Trust in leadership weakened - In many organisations, what leaders said and what employees experienced drifted apart. Promises around flexibility, wellbeing, and listening weren’t always matched by decisions or behaviours. Once trust is damaged, engagement doesn’t disappear overnight - it slowly drains away.

4. Work lost its meaning - As workloads increased and roles expanded, many employees struggled to see the impact of what they were doing. Tasks multiplied, but purpose didn’t. When work feels endless but meaningless, people don’t disengage because they don’t care - they disengage because caring starts to feel pointless.

5. Voice without action bred cynicism - Employees were asked for feedback more than ever. Surveys, pulse checks, listening sessions - all well-intentioned. But too often, nothing visibly changed. When people speak up and see no action, silence becomes the safer option.

6. Growth stalled - Hiring freezes, flatter structures, and constant reprioritisation left many feeling stuck. Development conversations were postponed. Career pathways blurred. Without a sense of progress, engagement quietly turns into resignation.

Why 2026 must be different

Here’s the uncomfortable truth: engagement will not return through another program, platform, or policy.

It will return when work once again feels:

·         Human

·         Fair

·         Purposeful

·         Sustainable

2026 is the moment to stop asking, “How do we get employees to re-engage?” and start asking, “What are we doing that makes it hard for people to care?”

Re-energising work doesn’t require radical reinvention. It requires consistent leadership choices made daily, not annually.

How we turn it around

1. Shift from performance at all costs to sustainable contribution

High engagement doesn’t come from pressure; it comes from clarity, prioritisation, and realistic expectations. Leaders must actively remove low-value work, challenge overload, and model healthy boundaries.

Energy is a finite resource. Treat it that way.

2. Rebuild trust through transparency and follow-through

Trust isn’t restored by statements - it’s restored by behaviour. Explain decisions. Share trade-offs. Close feedback loops. Do what you say you’ll do.

Even hard truths build more trust than silence.

3. Make work meaningful again

Reconnect roles to impact. Tell real stories about how work helps customers, communities, or colleagues. Remove tasks that exist purely because “that’s how we’ve always done it”.

Purpose isn’t a poster - it’s felt in everyday work.

4. Treat employee voice as a responsibility, not a checkbox

Listening creates obligation. If you ask for input, act on it - or explain why you can’t. Involve employees earlier in change, not after decisions are locked in.

Employees don’t need control over everything. They need to know their voice matters.

5. Invest in growth - even when it’s hard

Development can’t be a “nice to have” that disappears under pressure. Learning, progression, and capability-building signal belief in people and the future.

When employees see a path forward, they bring energy with them.

6. Lead like humans, not systems

The biggest driver of engagement remains the same: the day-to-day experience of being led. Empathy, consistency, fairness, and care are not soft skills - they are performance skills.

Employees don’t disengage from companies. They disengage from how work feels.

Bringing fulfilment back into work

Fulfilment doesn’t mean work is always easy or enjoyable. It means work feels worth it.

Engagement isn’t something we extract from employees. It’s something we earn - through trust, purpose, and everyday leadership behaviour.

So let’s be done with disengagement as an accepted norm.

Let’s turn it around in 2026 - and make work a place where people can once again feel energised, fulfilled, and proud of what they do.