The $1.9 Trillion Problem: Why Resilience in the Workplace Is the Missing Link in Employee Engagement

Employee disengagement is not just a minor frustration—it’s a global crisis. Gallup’s 2025 workplace report estimates the cost of unhappy, disengaged employees at a staggering $1.9 trillion each year. That’s not a typo. Trillion, with a “T.” And, this new phenomenon called “quiet cracking” is costing $438 billion a year in global productivity.

Think about what your company could do with even a fraction of that wasted money: R&D and innovation, expand markets, create healthier cultures, employee growth and learning, sustainability initiatives, talent magnet programs, customer experience, growth acceleration, and future-proofing the workforce, and so much more. Instead, disengagement quietly bleeds resources while leaders wonder why strategy isn’t landing.

Here’s the hard truth: strategy alone isn’t enough. A 2025 study by LMS Talent revealed 1 in 5 employees reported feeling “stuck in a persistent state of workplace unhappiness, leading to disengagement, poor performance, or plans to quit”. If your people are exhausted, checked out, or burned out, the sharpest strategic plan in the world won’t execute itself. The missing link is resilience in the workplace. Not as a buzzword, but as a lived skill set that helps people recover, adapt, and keep showing up with energy and focus.

I know this not just because of the data, but because I’ve lived it. I’ve seen organizations grind talented people into the ground with nonstop hustle culture, and I’ve seen others transform their results when they made resilience part of their DNA. Companies lose great talent, profits, opportunities, and so much more because resilience is absent in the workplace culture. And, with “quiet cracking”, more employees are burning out.

Let’s unpack why resilience is the hidden multiplier in engagement—and how leaders can stop leaving billions (and human potential) on the table.

The Engagement Crisis: More Than Just “Low Morale”

When people hear the term “disengaged employees,” they often picture folks scrolling on their phones or doing the bare minimum. That’s not the full story.

Gallup’s latest research shows that 62% of employees are not engaged and 17% are actively disengaged. These aren’t just folks who “don’t care.” Many started out committed and energized. What happens is that constant pressure, unclear expectations, increasing workloads assigned quietly over time, and lack of support drain them until they’re running on fumes.

I’ve coached high-achieving executives who looked perfect on paper—corner office, impressive salaries, prestigious titles—but privately admitted they were exhausted, disconnected, and secretly Googling “early retirement” because they couldn’t keep up the pace. That’s disengagement at the top, and when leaders are drained, it trickles down to the entire organization. The global workforce report revealed middle managers make or break the corporate resilience factor since they have a direct link down the chain to more employees.

It’s not about talent. It’s not about intelligence. It’s about resilience in the workplace.

Resilience in the Workplace: The Force Multiplier Hiding in Plain Sight

Resilience is often framed as “bouncing back.” But here’s the thing—bouncing back implies you’re returning to where you started. The real goal is to bounce forward.

Resilience in the workplace allows people to keep moving, even when circumstances change, pressure mounts, or the playbook gets thrown out the window. Resilience is what keeps employees engaged not because conditions are perfect, but because they can navigate the imperfect without breaking.

And resilience isn’t “soft.” It’s a hard-edged competitive advantage. Companies that weave resilience into their culture don’t just weather disruption—they grow stronger because of it.

Where Disengagement and Resilience Collide

Let’s connect the dots.

Disengaged employees: Drained, detached, mentally clocked out
Resilient employees: Energized, adaptive, able to recover quickly from setbacks

The difference? Resilience fuels the ability to stay engaged. Without resilience in the workplace, engagement efforts are like pouring water into a bucket full of holes. You can run recognition programs, redesign the office, or roll out wellness apps—but if employees don’t have the resilience to sustain themselves, engagement leaks away.

I’ve worked with companies that tried everything except resilience. They’d install nap pods, send out pizza Fridays, tasty treats, or launch yet another digital learning platform—all while ignoring the root issue. Without teaching people how to recharge, adapt, and sustain focus, engagement efforts fall flat. What’s going on in the employee’s personal life bleeds into their work life. Companies need to invest in resilience in the workplace via improving employees’ overall wellbeing and personal resilience, which is the key to sustainable success. But there’s a strategy company’s top leadership needs to embrace for the best outcome.

A Personal Example: When Resilience Made the Difference

Several years ago, I was leading a marketing project that went sideways fast. The budget was slashed midstream, half the team was reassigned, and deadlines didn’t budge. Stress levels were sky-high, and disengagement was setting in.

Instead of pushing harder, I shifted gears. We paused for a “resilience reset.” I carved out time for quick daily check-ins where people could air frustrations honestly (no judgment). We celebrated micro-wins—even if it was just surviving a brutal client meeting. And we built in short breaks to reset instead of grinding nonstop.

The result? Instead of collapsing under pressure, the team rallied. Not because the situation got easier, but because they had the resilience to handle it together. Engagement didn’t just recover—it grew. And the campaign still hit results the client had written off as impossible.

That’s the power of resilience in action.

Why Managers Are the Leverage Point

Here’s something many leaders miss: employee engagement is directly tied to manager engagement.

If your managers are burned out, distracted, or disengaged, their teams will mirror that energy. Gallup’s 2025 report highlights that manager engagement is slipping—and it’s dragging employees with it.

Managers aren’t just project overseers. They’re culture carriers. When they model resilience in the workplace—taking recovery seriously, staying adaptable, showing confidence in uncertain times—employees follow. When they don’t, disengagement spreads like wildfire.

Building Resilience Into Your Organization

So how do you close the $1.9 trillion gap? You embed resilience in the workplace as a strategic lever, not just a wellness perk. Here’s how: (items 1-5 are H3)

1. Normalize Recovery as Productivity
Stop glorifying burnout. Make rest, breaks, and boundaries part of how you define effective work.

2. Train Resilience as a Skill
Just like you train sales or leadership. Teach people how to regulate stress, reset focus, and adapt under pressure.

3. Create Micro-moments of Connection
People are less likely to disengage when they feel seen. Encourage leaders to build trust with genuine conversations, not just checklists.

4. Model It From the Top
Executives need to walk the talk. If leaders brag about 80-hour weeks, resilience initiatives will never stick.

5. Measure Resilience Like You Measure KPIs
Engagement scores, turnover, and performance metrics should include resilience indicators. If you don’t track it, it won’t improve.

The Resilience ROI

This isn’t just about making employees “feel better.” It’s about measurable returns:

Lower Turnover: Resilient employees stick around longer
Higher Productivity: Resilience protects focus and reduces costly mistakes
Better Innovation: People can think creatively when they’re not drowning in stress
Stronger Culture: Resilient teams attract top talent

When you add it up, resilience in the workplace is not a “nice to have” tool. Resilience is the lever that unlocks the engagement puzzle—and helps reclaim the $1.9 trillion currently lost to disengagement.

Final Thoughts

Here’s the truth most leaders don’t want to hear: disengagement is not an employee problem. It’s an organizational resilience problem.

If you want your people to show up energized, focused, and committed, you must give them the tools to recover, adapt, and thrive. Strategy without resilience is just a plan on paper. Strategy with resilience in the workplace becomes unstoppable.

And if you’re reading this thinking, “We need this yesterday,” you’re right. Because resilience isn’t just about surviving the storm—it’s about building the needed resilience muscle to keep moving forward, no matter what comes next.

Take the Next Step

If your organization is serious about closing the $1.9 trillion engagement gap, now is the time to invest in resilience in the workplace. Your people don’t need another pizza Friday or a shiny app they’ll never open—they need the tools and training to recharge, adapt, and stay engaged no matter what comes their way.

That’s where Resilience Brilliance comes in. Through programs like Build Resilience, private coaching, speaking and custom programs, and immersive retreats, I help leaders and teams build resilience that sticks.

Want to see how resilience can transform your workplace?
Book a call with Jena today and start turning burnout into breakthrough.

If you’re serious about building a crisis-ready organization, let’s talk. Book a 20-minute resilience strategy call to see how your company measures up. You can also grab a Resilience Readiness checklist to assess your company’s current level of resilience.

Author Bio

Jena Taylor is the founder of Resilience Brilliance, a resilience coach, strategist, and sought-after keynote speaker who helps organizations close the costly gaps caused by burnout and disengagement. With over 30 years of experience in marketing, leadership, and entrepreneurship, Jena partners with companies to design custom resilience programs that strengthen leaders, boost performance, and create cultures where people thrive.

Jena’s signature offerings include keynote speaking, executive coaching, and organizational resilience strategies tailored for the corporate world. For employees, she provides scalable solutions like Be Resilient (a hybrid self-paced + coaching program) and Build Resilience (a 6-week guided program) to extend impact across the workforce.

Jena’s mission is simple: equip leaders and their teams with the resilience tools to recover, adapt, and thrive—so organizations can turn the $1.9 trillion engagement crisis into a competitive advantage. Learn more at ResilienceBrilliance.co. For employees, she provides scalable solutions like Be Resilient (a hybrid self-paced + coaching program) and Build Resilience (a 6-week self-guided program), along with a free resilience live training session monthly.