Driving Employee Belonging Through Manager Connection

Building a sense of belonging at work starts with the people closest to the work - managers.

There is a powerful opportunity inside today's engagement challenge, and it starts with the manager-employee relationship.

Gallup's 2026 State of the Global Workplace report found that global employee engagement fell to 20% in 2025, its lowest level since 2020, costing the world economy an estimated $10 trillion in lost productivity. Yet buried within these numbers is a powerful insight: the single biggest lever organisations have to reverse this trend is also one of the most human ones - the manager-employee relationship.

Gallup's research consistently shows that managers account for 70% of the variance in team-level engagement. This means that organisations investing in equipping their managers as architects of connection and belonging are not simply building a warmer culture, they are building a stronger business.

SHRM's Spring 2026 People + Strategy journal reinforces this: community is not built through initiatives or programmes, but through daily manager-employee interactions. It is in the regular one-to-one conversation, the moment of recognition, the honest check-in, that belonging takes root in. Research from the Achievers Workforce Institute supports this — regular, meaningful recognition makes nearly 80% of employees feel like they belong.

For organisations across MENA, managing diverse workforces, nationalisation priorities, and rapid change, this is not a soft HR goal. It is a business one. Across the GCC, employee expectations are rising faster than employer responses, and the engagement gap is widening even as organisations push through major transformation..

The good news: building organisational belonging through managers is actionable, measurable, and entirely within reach.

Where HR leaders can start:

Make connection part of the manager role. Belonging-oriented behaviours should be built into manager competency frameworks and performance conversations - not treated as optional. SHRM's 2026 CHRO Priorities and Perspectives report found that 46% of CHROs rank leadership and manager development as a top priority — for the second year running.

Invest in structured listening habits. Belonging is built when people feel heard. HR can equip managers with simple, consistent practices: regular team check-ins, structured one-to-ones, and pulse tools that surface how connected team members feel. The goal is not more meetings - it is more meaningful contact.

Recognise connection as a culture signal. Gallup's research shows that companies with strong recognition practices see up to a 21% uplift in profitability. Training managers to recognise contributions, not just outputs, sends a signal that the organisation values the whole person, not just their productivity.

Measure what matters. SHRM's 2026 Global Workplace Culture Report links open, connected cultures to stronger belonging. Track team-level belonging scores and use the data to pinpoint where manager development is needed most.

The organisations that will build the most resilient workforces in the years ahead will not be those that simply hire well, they will be those that connect well. And that connection starts with one manager and one conversation, at a time.

For a deeper look at how organisations are scaling connection across teams and locations, read Scaling Connection in SHRM's People + Strategy Spring 2026 journal.