LONDON, UK — UK employee engagement remains one of the lowest in Europe, with recent global workplace research placing it at around one in ten employees, and management is being identified as the primary driver behind the figure.

According to executive coach and leadership consultant Anglie Johns, the instinct to respond with yet another staff survey is part of the problem, not the solution. "A survey can tell you the score is low," said Johns. "It can't tell you why. Most of the time it comes down to something specific — a manager who keeps cancelling one-to-ones, or feedback that only happens once a year and lands as a shock. You don't fix that by measuring it again."

Research from the CIPD points to a similar conclusion: employees rarely leave a company outright — they leave a manager who was never properly taught how to manage. Johns argues that closing this gap requires management training built around real, specific behaviours, combined with individual leadership coaching for the managers setting the day-to-day tone for their teams.

Inclusion also plays a central role in the diagnosis. Johns notes that engagement strategies which overlook unconscious bias or cultural intelligence tend to stall, since employees who don't feel fairly seen or heard rarely register as engaged, regardless of workplace perks.

With more than 20 years of experience across financial services, retail, consulting, engineering, and media — including senior roles at Waitrose and John Lewis — Johns works with UK organisations to diagnose the specific causes of disengagement and build practical, manager-led plans to address them, rather than relying on generic, one-off training days.

"An engagement plan built around a survey score fixes nothing on its own," Johns added. "The ones that actually hold combine honest coaching, practical training, and managers who've been properly developed — not just informed."

For more information, visit https://www.angliejohns.com/