How Detachment Affects Business

With the Great Resignation in the rearview mirror and the labor market cooling, organizations may face levels of detachment they haven't seen in more than a decade and end up with disgruntled staff. Detachment, the state of emotional and mental disengagement from work, represents a multifront risk to employers. It can manifest in several ways, such as decreased pride in work outputs, less job satisfaction, and greater intent to leave the company—all of which can threaten business operations. Detachment can also trickle down to affect the customer experience.

According to 2024 Gallup data, employee pride in the quality of products and services their company offers has fallen to 28 percent, the lowest in 16 years of tracking and a decrease from a high of 36 percent in early March 2020. The industries featuring the greatest drop in employee pride include transportation and warehouse logistics, IT systems, and government or public policy.

Meanwhile, employee job satisfaction is at its lowest in 10 years of Gallup data, hitting 18 percent in November 2024. Significantly, 51 percent of respondents expressed their intent to leave for a new job in November 2024, the highest rate since January 2015.

MyPerfectResume's 2025 Great Detachment Report paints a similarly grim picture of the US workforce. According to the survey of more than 1,100 US workers, 79 percent feel detached from their jobs. The most common causes are insufficient compensation, a lack of recognition, high workloads, and a lack of career progression.

Such discontent goes on to negatively affect customer satisfaction as well. For example, Gallup's report says that when employees are not invested in their work, they are less likely to provide excellent customer service, potentially hurting a company's reputation. Absenteeism may also rise, particularly in customer-facing positions, which can cause disruptions to normal operations and frustrating delays for consumers.

Organizations should remain mindful of ways they mitigate detachment to drive customer and revenue growth. Beyond typical employee engagement solutions such as creating a culture of recognition and appreciation, supporting work-life balance, and providing opportunities for growth and development, employers can identify ways to re-center the customer's importance in workers' eyes. Gallup's report recommends providing team members with client feedback and stories, which humanizes the customer and reinforces the importance of employee contributions. The report also suggests exploring new technology to improve customer interactions such as using artificial intelligence to support those interactions.