Amid a downward trend in U.S. employee engagement, organizations must reshape their people management approach to more directly address employee happiness, panelists said Tuesday at a virtual event hosted by the Academy of Management.

Gallup data published in early 2023 found that engagement consistently declined in the years following the COVID-19 pandemic. For Christian Busch, associate professor of clinical management and organization at the University of Southern California, it’s not difficult to understand why.

“When you face how quickly something in life can change [...] you then try to find an anchor, and I think a lot of people [...] looked to their organizations,” Busch said, “and they didn’t find it there.”

The multitude of crises affecting workers in everyday life exposed employers that failed to react with empathy, Busch continued. Layoffs particularly damaged trust between workers and leadership, he said, given that many organizations extolled a belief in purposeful, meaningful work before the pandemic.

Conversely, “a lot of companies and leaders showed how far they can go to help their employees, and that’s raised expectations” said Hakan Ozcelik, professor of management at California State University. “The expectations component of it really triggered all employees, especially those who are not getting their share of happiness right now.”

The manifestations of that unhappiness are all too familiar for HR, from the ubiquitous “quiet quitting” to the more ominous “great gloom.” Presenteeism, absenteeism and operational miscues are all risks for employers in the current environment, according to Bonnie Hayden Cheng, associate professor at Hong Kong University.

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