STOCKHOLM & TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov 9, 2026--
Based on more than 40 hours of in-depth interviews with HR and talent leaders, alongside global workplace research and organizational psychology, the Employee Engagement Crisis Report found recurring patterns: employees often know more than leaders hear, people become less willing to contribute when their input goes nowhere, and managers are expected to engage their teams while facing many of the same pressures themselves.
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The findings come as employee engagement has fallen to 20% globally, its lowest level since 2020. Gallup estimates that low engagement cost the global economy around $10 trillion in lost productivity last year. At the same time, US spending on AI based products is projected to grow from around $230 billion in 2025 to more than $1.75 trillion by 2030.
““Everyone is looking at AI and asking where the next productivity gain will come from. I think there’s another question worth asking: how much value are we already leaving on the table?” says Johnny Warström, CEO and co-founder of Mentimeter. “Every company has people who see things that could work better, spot problems early or have ideas that never make it into the conversation. That’s a huge resource to leave untapped.”
What leaders can do about it
The report describes organizations as running two systems: the visible system of tools, workflows and structures, and what Mentimeter calls the invisible human system, which shapes how people participate, share what they know and respond to change.
It identifies four conditions leaders can act on to strengthen the human system and make better use of the knowledge already inside their organizations: Safety, Voice, Attention and Action.
“At Mentimeter, we work with 95% of the Fortune 500, and that has given us a unique perspective. Having smart people in the room doesn’t mean you’re hearing what they know. The question for leaders is whether they’re creating enough opportunities for that knowledge to surface, and whether they’re doing something about it when it does, ” says Warström.
Get the full report here.
About Mentimeter
Mentimeter is an engagement company with a simple goal: to make every leader better. Through interaction, insights and recommendations, its platform helps organizations turn participation into better understanding and stronger performance.
Founded in Stockholm in 2012, Mentimeter is used by 20 million people each month across 1.3 million organizations.
Our new report looks at why only 1 in 5 people are engaged at work, what it’s costing organizations, and a practical way to turn it around. It draws on the latest research and interviews with business and HR leaders.
Everything will be so familiar to Rory McIlroy: the course, the stakes, the pressure.
For Eugenio Chacarra, it’s all new territory.
The 2026 golf season on the European tour reaches its climax this week with a traditional trip to the Earth course at Jumeirah Golf Estates in Dubai for the 50 leading players on the points list.
So much is still up for grabs: a $3 million check for winning the year-end tournament; the season-long Race to Dubai title; and, for 10 players, a career-changing ticket to the PGA Tour.
Most excitement surrounds the fight to be crowned the year’s No. 1 player on the European tour, a contest — once called the Order of Merit but now labeled the Race to Dubai — that McIlroy has dominated for the past 15 years.
He is involved again this season, with McIlroy sitting second in the standings behind Chacarra and knowing a fourth career victory at the World Tour Championship will see him win the season-long prize for an eighth time, tying the record with Colin Montgomerie. McIlroy has won it the last four years, too.
Chacarra, a 26-year-old Spaniard in his first full season on the tour, leads McIlroy by nearly 534 points. American player Patrick Reed is third, a further 181 points back and the last of the top title contenders.
Some 2,000 points are on offer for the winner at Jumeirah Golf Estates, with 1,335 for second place, 752 for third place, 600 for fourth, and 509 for fifth.
The only way for Chacarra to guarantee finishing in first place is to win. For the Spaniard, it seems to be a direct fight between him and McIlroy.
“He’s the No. 2 player in the world and the No. 1 in Europe,” Chacarra said of the most recent player to complete the career Grand Slam in golf. “And he’s been doing it for a long time and he plays really good out in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. He has played that course a million times, and I only played it once.
“Obviously,” said Chacarra, a three-time title winner this season, “the odds are on him and he’s the favorite. But we’ll play golf. We know what I’m capable of when I am playing good.”
Finishing third at the Abu Dhabi Championship last week lifted McIlroy above Reed in the Race to Dubai standings and means he'll be with Chacarra in the final pairing setting out in Thursday's first round.
“That’s where I wanted to be,” McIlroy said. “It’s a pretty familiar spot for me going into the DP World Tour Championship and I’m excited for it.”
Reed's two wins this season came at the Dubai Desert Classic in January and the Qatar Masters in February. His form has dipped in recent weeks since an injury-prompted withdrawal midway through the BMW PGA Championship in September, with his last three results being a missed cut in Spain, a T23 in India, and a T43 out of 70 players in Abu Dhabi last week.
Some players below the top three have a slim chance of winning the Race to Dubai, but they need to win and for Chacarra and McIlroy to finish way down the leaderboard.
One of them is Rahm, whose victory in Abu Dhabi on Sunday lifted him to sixth place — around 1,700 points behind Chacarra.
“Actually gives me a little extra incentive,” Rahm said. “I really didn’t think I was going to have a chance.”
Whatever happens this week, Chacarra and Reed have secured one of the 10 places on next season's PGA Tour available to European tour members who are not otherwise exempt.
Making up the current 10 are Casey Jarvis, Jayden Schaper, Daniel Hillier, Jakob Skov Olesen, Bernd Wiesberger, Andy Sullivan, Oliver Lindell and Joe Dean.
Lindell and Dean, Nos. 9 and 10 in the non-exempt list, are most vulnerable heading to Dubai.
By the end of the week, the PGA Tour is like to have four ex-LIV Golf players with cards.
Brooks Koepka was the first after he got out of his LIV contract last December and the PGA Tour created a path back with financial penalties. Chacarra, Reed and Wiesberger would be next through the Race to Dubai standings.
Players typically are banned by the PGA Tour for one year dating to their last LIV appearance. Reed chose in January not to renew his LIV deal. He actually was eligible to return to the PGA Tour for the FedEx Cup Fall, but chose to chase the European tour points list.
Chacarra signed out of Oklahoma State as the No. 2 amateur in the world. He left after his contract expired in 2024. Earlier this year, he was the first LIV player to receive a PGA Tour sponsor exemption, to the Puerto Rico Open.
Wiesberger, who played on the 2021 Ryder Cup team, played only two seasons at LIV. The Austrian returned to the European tour in 2024.
See AP’s full golf coverage here
Patrick Reed of the United States hits off the first tee during the first round of Abu Dhabi Golf Championship in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Thursday, Nov. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
Eugenio Chacarra of Spain hits off the first tee during the first round of Abu Dhabi Golf Championship in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Thursday, Nov. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland reacts on the seventh hole during the final round of the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Sunday, Nov. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
