Engagement by Industry Sector: Who’s Struggling and Who’s Thriving?

When it comes to Employee Engagement, context matters, and few things shape that context more than the industry you work in. Whether navigating rapid innovation, recovering from economic shocks, or adapting to workforce expectations, every sector has its own story to tell. And in 2025, those stories are becoming even more distinct.

At Perceptyx, we maintain a benchmark database of more than 20 million survey responses from over 500 global organizations, spanning 20 sectors as defined by the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). This gives us a uniquely comprehensive view of how engagement is trending across the workforce, and how those trends differ by sector.

In this blog, we explore five engagement trajectories emerging from the latest benchmark data. From steady risers like Finance and Manufacturing, to sectors facing sustained challenges like Construction and Retail, the picture is far from uniform. But in these differences lies opportunity: understanding your sector’s engagement trend is the first step toward building a more resilient and responsive organization.

Before diving into the data, let’s revisit what Employee Engagement means and why it continues to be one of the strongest predictors of individual and organizational success.

What is Employee Engagement and How Does It Drive Performance?

One area where we can explore differences across the globe with consistency is through Employee Engagement. Employee engagement describes how employees feel about the organization — their emotional attachment — and what they’re willing to do as a result of that emotional attachment. Perceptyx measures engagement with four items: Pride, Advocacy, Commitment, and Intrinsic Motivation. Those who are highly engaged are more likely to recommend their organisation to others, more likely to stay with the organization, and are more likely to go above and beyond to help their organisation achieve its goals.

Engagement and performance create a virtuous cycle: highly engaged employees tend to perform better, leading to success for both the individual and the organization, which in turn reinforces and deepens engagement. The anticipation of success acts as a powerful catalyst for engagement, driving employees to invest more of themselves in their work and the organization's mission. 

Engagement Trends by Sector: Five Distinct Stories

Perceptyx’s 2025 benchmark data reveals that while the global average for employee engagement sits at 80.1%, sector-level engagement varies widely, and so does the direction of change. Some sectors are gaining momentum, others are holding steady, and several are seeing sustained declines. 

But these numbers tell more than just a ranking. They also reflect deeper patterns in how sectors are evolving, adapting, or struggling amid today’s complex challenges. Five distinct narratives emerge from this year’s data.

Steady Increasers: Finance & Insurance, and Manufacturing

Both the Finance and Insurance Sector and the Manufacturing sector have seen year-on-year increases in engagement. These organizations are heavily invested in AI to create efficiencies, as well as investing in their people to help retain and upskill them. This means there is a greater opportunity to secure a job for life. Additionally, they are often very supportive of their employees' health and well-being. While the labour market for manufacturing companies remains tight, there is optimism around how AI can support the current workforce, and organisations are doubling down on their efforts to improve the employee experience to help reduce attrition.

Rebounders: Wholesale Trade and Information

Both the Wholesale Trade and Information sectors have rebounded after a sharp decline in 2023, with Wholesale Trade closing in on the Finance and Insurance Sector. In 2024, Wholesale Trade organisations saw growing demand, meaning business performance and optimism are increasing. Organisations are also using technological advancements to be more sustainable and improve operational efficiency.

The end of 2022 and 2023 were tough for technology companies, with a number of large, high-profile tech companies making substantial reductions in their workforce and rebalancing after over-staffing during the pandemic. In 2024, there was a bit more stability, and AI became a sharp focus for all. 

Stable: Health Care & Social Assistance, and Administrative

Both the Health Care & Social Assistance and Administrative sectors saw relative stability between 2023 and 2024. In healthcare, continued staffing shortages and high patient demand are persistent challenges, but organizations are making focused efforts to support employee resilience and manage burnout. Administrative roles, which often provide more predictable work structures, may benefit from greater consistency and clarity around expectations. While engagement levels haven’t shifted much, maintaining stability during a time of constant change signals that these sectors may be effectively managing internal pressures. That said, stability shouldn't be mistaken for strength. Without ongoing investment in the employee experience, stagnation remains a risk.

Step Down: Accommodation and Food Services, and Retail Trade

Both the Accommodation and Food Services and Retail Trade sectors experienced a decline in engagement in 2024, following a peak in 2023. While there has been growth in the Accommodation and Food Services sector, this growth has contributed to issues, as inflationary pressures mean building new facilities is more expensive. And building a talent pipeline that utilises employees' skills and abilities in the most appropriate way is a real challenge. 

Retail Trade faces many challenges, with shoppers' behaviour changing dramatically, inflationary pressures causing people to spend less, particularly on non-essential goods, and continuing layoffs.

Steady Decliners: Construction, and Professional, Scientific and Technical Services

Both the Construction and Professional, Scientific and Technical Services sectors have seen year-on-year decreases. The Construction sector is massively impacted by inflation, the cost of raw materials increasing, resulting in tighter profit margins and growing pressure to complete projects quicker at a potential risk of quality. The Professional, Scientific and Technical Services sector faced a tough year in 2024, with numerous organisations making layoffs in their professional services operations as they aim to streamline and create efficiencies. Additionally, the growing use of AI and increasing workload resulted in falling optimism and engagement. 

How Can You Turn These Sector Insights Into Organizational Action?

Understanding where your sector stands is only the first step; it’s what you do with that knowledge that ultimately drives results. Whether your sector is seeing rising engagement, remaining stable, or facing new headwinds, the following recommendations can help guide your next move:

• If your sector is rising, don’t assume momentum will sustain itself. Continue investing in what’s working — particularly in employee development, change readiness, and communication — to maintain and build on those gains.
  
  
• If engagement is stable, treat this as a signal to go deeper. Stability can mask underlying issues or missed opportunities. Use point-in-time surveys or listening strategies to explore what’s contributing to that consistency and where growth is still possible.
  
  
• If your sector is declining, now is the time to listen closely and act decisively. Identify key friction points — whether related to change fatigue, workload, or unclear expectations — and take targeted steps to address them. Recovery starts with understanding the “why.”

Perceptyx helps organizations not only with benchmarking performance but also with creating tailored strategies that connect employee voice with business outcomes. If you’d like to explore how your organization stacks up or how to move forward using cutting-edge insights and analysis from the Perceptyx Platform, schedule a meeting with a member of our team.

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