Work Experience as an Organizational Challenge

Work Experience as an Organizational Challenge

Work is changing. But not necessarily in the direction we expect.

Gallup’s latest global study shows that only 20% of people are engaged in their work, and that this figure has been falling steadily in recent years. Added to this is an even more significant finding: the engagement of team leaders is also declining.

This is no minor change. It is a structural shift.

When the connection to work weakens—and especially when this happens among leadership—it’s not just the work environment or employee satisfaction that begins to suffer, but also organizations’ ability to sustain performance over time. Gallup quantifies this: the decline in engagement accounts for about 9% of global GDP in lost productivity.

In Latin America, the outlook seems more positive in terms of connection (30% commitment), but this coexists with high levels of stress and burnout. In other words, there is a connection, but it may not necessarily be sustainable.

Chile is no exception to this trend. On the contrary, recent evidence shows that the relationship with managers has become a critical aspect of the work experience. And when we look at our own data from the 2025 Organizational Trust Study, another red flag emerges: the organizational experience is not the same for those who lead teams as it is for those who do not.

Across various dimensions of trust, the gaps can exceed 20 or even 30 percentage points. Factors such as the conditions needed to do the job well, support in the face of personal difficulties, and connection to the community show systematic differences between the two groups.

This poses a challenge that goes beyond leadership understood as an individual skill. What is at stake is the ability of organizations to align three levels that currently appear disconnected: what is defined at the strategic level, what managers experience in their day-to-day management, and what employees experience in their day-to-day work.

When that consistency is not achieved, culture ceases to be a competitive advantage and becomes a source of friction.

In this context, the challenge is not only to develop better leaders, but also to examine the organizational conditions that enable or limit that leadership.

This is where something even more profound comes into play: the ability of organizations to bring out the full potential of their employees and teams.

And that is hardly something that can be resolved through isolated initiatives. A development program, on its own, does not change the work experience if it is not aligned with the strategy or translated into concrete management practices.

Trust, in that sense, is not just a bond between people. It is built—or eroded—by the way teams are organized, how decisions are made, and the conditions the organization establishes for work to take place.

Therefore, the challenge lies not only in developing leaders, but also in designing organizations capable of sustaining that leadership in practice.

At Almabrands, we tackle this challenge from a holistic perspective, linking strategy, culture, and organizational experience, and viewing leadership as a key node within that system.

When that consistency is achieved, the impact is transformative.

If this is a challenge that your organization is also facing or anticipating, let’s talk at almabrands@almabrands.com

By Cristián Irarrazaval, Culture and Leadership Manager at Almabrands