The Work Experience as an Organizational Challenge

The 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 at work, and that this figure has been steadily declining in recent years. Added to this is an even more relevant fact: engagement among those who lead teams is also falling.

 

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

 

When the bond with work weakens, and especially when that happens among managers, what begins to strain is not just the work climate or satisfaction, but organizations’ ability to sustain performance over time. Gallup puts a number on it: the drop in engagement represents around 9% of global GDP in lost productivity.

 

In Latin America, the picture looks more positive in terms of connection (30% engagement), but it coexists with high levels of stress and burnout. In other words, there is connection, but it will not necessarily be sustainable.

 

Chile is not immune to this dynamic. On the contrary, recent evidence shows that the relationship with managers has become a critical point in the work experience. And when we look at our own data from the 2025 Organizational Trust Study, another warning sign emerges: the experience of the organization is not the same for those who lead teams and those who do not.

 

Across different dimensions of trust, the gaps can exceed 20 or even 30 percentage points. Aspects such as conditions for doing the job well, support in the face of personal difficulties, or connection with the environment 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 organizations’ ability to align three levels that today appear disconnected: what is defined at the strategic level, what managers experience as they lead, and what people experience in their day-to-day work.

 

When that coherence is not achieved, culture stops being a competitive advantage and becomes a source of friction.

 

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

 

This is where something deeper is at stake: organizations’ ability to unlock the full potential of their people and teams.

 

And that can hardly be solved through isolated initiatives. A development program alone does not change the work experience if it is not connected to strategy and translated into concrete management practices.

 

Trust, in that sense, is not just a bond between people. It is built, or weakened, in the way teams are organized, in how decisions are made, and in the conditions the organization sets for work to happen.

 

That is why the challenge lies not only in developing leaders, but in designing organizations capable of sustaining that leadership in practice.

 

At Almabrands, we address this challenge with an integrated approach, connecting strategy, culture, and organizational experience, and seeing managers as a key node within that system.

 

When that coherence is achieved, the impact is transformative.

 

If this is a challenge you are also experiencing or anticipating in your organization, let’s talk at almabrands@almabrands.com

 

By Cristián Irarrazaval, Culture and Leadership Manager, Almabrands