Inside the Brains of Engaged Employees
- Melissa Hughes
- Jan 1
- 4 min read
According to Gallup’s 2026 State of the Global Workplace Report, employee wellbeing and engagement remain major global challenges. Gallup continues to find that miserable work experiences spill over into home life, affecting stress levels, relationships, and overall wellbeing. If people are not thriving at work, they are far less likely to be thriving in life.
Key Findings from the Latest Report:
20% of employees worldwide are engaged at work in 2025, down from the recent high of 23% in 2022 and 2023.
64% are not engaged (quiet quitting) and 16% are actively disengaged (loud quitting). That means 80% of the global workforce is psychologically disconnected from work.
Global employee engagement declines in 2024–2025 cost the world economy an estimated $438 billion in lost productivity in 2024 alone, while low engagement overall continues to represent trillions in economic losses.
34% of employees worldwide are thriving, while the majority are struggling or suffering.
40% of employees report high daily stress, with anger, sadness, and loneliness all remaining above pre-pandemic levels.
Quiet quitting and loud quitting are not just employee problems. They are leadership signals. Loud quitters often reveal deeper cultural risks, while quiet quitters may represent the greatest opportunity for better management, stronger engagement, and meaningful organizational change.
Gallup defines these engagement levels as follows:
Thriving at work: These employees find their work meaningful and feel connected to the team and their organization. They feel proud of the work they do and take ownership of their performance, going the extra mile for teammates and customers.
Quiet quitting: These employees are filling a seat and watching the clock. They put in the minimum effort required, and they are psychologically disconnected from their employer. Although they are minimally productive, they are more likely to be stressed and burnt out than engaged workers because they feel lost and disconnected from their workplace.
Loud quitting: These employees take actions that directly harm the organization, undercutting its goals and opposing its leaders. At some point along the way, the trust between employee and employer was severely broken.
Engaged employees are passionate about their jobs, and they have a strong impact on the company’s success. Satisfied employees are okay… they may even be content, but that doesn’t mean they are engaged. They aren’t setting any fires, but they aren’t setting any records either. Even the ones who don’t like their jobs may be just satisfied enough not to leave. Some of your most satisfied employees may be doing the most damage to your culture and your bottom line.
Neuroscience now gives us an understanding of why and how people feel engaged at work. It’s a complicated dance between the survival brain, emotional brain, and thinking brain. It also has everything to do with the neurotransmitters that are released from the limbic system, or the emotional brain. These chemicals are dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, and cortisol, and they activate different parts of the brain.
The Brain Chemistry of Engaged Employees
Let’s take a peek inside an engaged brain.
When people feel energized by their work, they naturally look for ways to improve, grow, and take on new challenges. As that happens, the brain releases dopamine. Dopamine is often called the reward chemical, but it also plays a major role in motivation, learning, and building new neural pathways. It helps people move toward goals and repeat behaviors that feel rewarding.
Now imagine someone recognizes your effort. A handwritten note from your manager. A sincere “great job.” A coworker saying, “Thanks for helping with that project.” That kind of recognition can boost serotonin, a neurochemical tied to mood, confidence, and overall emotional wellbeing. It helps people feel valued and steadier under pressure.
Then there is oxytocin. According to workplace research, some of the strongest drivers of job satisfaction are emotional: respectful treatment, trust, and feeling valued as part of the team. Those experiences help stimulate oxytocin, the bonding chemical associated with connection, belonging, and psychological safety. Because humans are wired for connection, oxytocin is essential to healthy workplace culture.
Together, dopamine, serotonin, and oxytocin support activity in the prefrontal cortex—the thinking brain. This is the part of the brain responsible for problem-solving, decision-making, creativity, impulse control, and sound judgment. In short, these are the chemicals of engagement.
All three of these chemicals – oxytocin, serotonin, and dopamine – stimulate activity in the prefrontal cortex, or the thinking brain. This is the part of the brain that does the heavy lifting with planning, problem-solving, decision-making, impulse control and creativity.
The Stress Chemical (cue the ominous music)
The brain is wired for safety first. And not just physical safety. It's emotional safety too. When the brain detects threat, it shifts resources away from growth and toward protection. New learning, creativity, and strategic thinking take a back seat while survival systems take the wheel.
To the brain, workplace stress can feel like threat. Conflict, disrespect, exclusion, uncertainty, or chronic pressure can activate the same stress systems designed to keep us safe from danger. That response is driven largely by cortisol, the body’s primary stress hormone.
Research also shows that social pain activates many of the same brain regions as physical pain. Even witnessing another person’s stress can trigger a similar response in us. That is why emotional contagion in teams is so powerful. Stress spreads. So does calm.
The Leadership Takeaway
If you want employees working from their thinking brains instead of their survival brains, create the conditions for engagement. Keep unnecessary stress low. Build trust. Offer meaningful recognition. Provide challenging work with support.
A healthy mix of dopamine, serotonin, and oxytocin is not fluff. It is fuel for high performance. Those are the ingredients you will find inside the most engaged teams.
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