You’ve probably been in the meetings.
Someone from management opens with, “We’ve noticed engagement is down. Morale seems flat.” A slide lights up the screen; a new initiative is announced. Possibly a Wellness Wednesday. Or a pulse survey to start things off. What about a gratitude wall? Everyone nods robotically.
And then, inevitably, an already tired person begrudgingly adds another thing to a list that was already long enough.
DHR Global’s 2026 Workforce Trends Report found engagement among surveyed professionals fell from 88% to 64% in a single year, while burnout stuck at 83%. And too often, the response is to try harder, to do more. More surveys. More check-ins. More programmes.
I’ve given it a name: Engagement Theatre — when the activity of engaging people replaces, or at least detracts from, the experience of being engaged.
It looks busy. It looks good in the quarterly report. But it can leave people more drained than before.
Trying harder here backfires, because engagement isn’t something you do to people or expect from them. It happens when their work connects to something that matters to them. When a sense of purpose inspires them. That’s the bit we often skip. Because meaning is individual. What lights up one person bores the next.
One of the things we talk about in YQ: none of us is special, but each of us is unique. A programme designed for everyone often misses each one, landing somewhere in the gaps between people.
When engagement drops and we respond with a bigger, louder, more frequent version of the same thing, we’re asking tired people to perform enthusiasm on top of everything else.
That’s not engagement. It’s just Engagement Theatre.
Ed would say: “Ever noticed the people running the fun committee are usually the most exhausted people in the building? Nobody has ever been surveyed into caring. Want to know if your team is engaged and committed? Stop asking. Watch what they do when nobody’s measuring.”
I’d add: “Maybe cancel one meeting. Just one. See what happens.”
Making room for boundaries
When last did you talk about boundaries with your team?
This is where I think great conversations can be had and really add value. If Engagement Theatre keeps asking more of people, boundaries are where we start asking what’s enough.
Engagement fatigue isn’t only an organisational problem. It’s personal too. Many of us have unconsciously agreed to be “on” all the time. Available. Responsive. Enthusiastic on cue.
We’ve confused that with commitment. And it’s not sustainable.
In that environment, boundaries feel risky. They don’t fit the script of Engagement Theatre. Saying “I’ll skip that optional session” can sound like you don’t care. Bad form, “old boy”.
Really, it’s often the opposite. Boundaries protect the energy you need to care about the things that matter.
There are two sides to boundaries, and I don’t mean this side and that side.
Establishing boundaries. Noticing where they haven’t been set before. Where your time, attention or goodwill has quietly become a resource everyone assumes is unlimited.
Maintaining boundaries. Holding the ones you already know you need, even when the pressure to drop them is polite, well-meaning, and comes with snacks and hollow praise.
Neither is selfish, by the way.
A team of people who know and respect their limits has a better chance of genuine engagement than one pretending it has none.
And if you happen to lead people, your boundaries give them permission to have theirs. To be honest, that’s easier to write about than to live. I’m working on mine constantly — and, these days, consciously.
Before the next initiative, try these filters. They’ll work for organisations. They’ll work for you.
- Does this give energy, or take it?
- Is this for them — or for the report?
- What could we stop, instead of start?
That last one is a quiet revolution. Sometimes the most engaging thing a leader can do is take something away.
Perhaps the answer to engagement fatigue isn’t trying harder. Perhaps it’s making room for what matters.
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