Employees start motivated – but meaning, trust and job fit are quickly eroding that spark

Most employees don’t arrive at a new job checked out or cynical. In fact, 78% say they started their current role feeling motivated, according to The Predictive Index’s 2026 Motivation at Work Survey.

But that energy is proving fragile, and many organisations are unintentionally grinding it down, says Matt Poepsel, PhD, vice president at The Predictive Index.

“Disengagement isn't happening because employees lack effort or care,” Poepsel says. “More often than not, it happens when there is cognitive overload, process friction, and a mismatch between the person and the work itself.”

The survey paints a picture of employees who begin with good intentions but are quickly derailed by how work is structured day to day.

Poepsel points to three key culprits:

• Cognitive overload: Too many competing demands and mental juggling.

• Process friction: Clunky workflows and unclear ways of getting things done.

• Poor role fit: A fundamental mismatch between a person’s natural strengths and the work they’re asked to do.

“When people are asked to do work that doesn't align with their natural strengths and behavioral preferences, energy drains faster than it gets replenished,” he explained.

The modern workplace piles on multiple communication channels, shifting priorities and clashing work styles. Without enough “goodwill in the system” to absorb that friction, even initially motivated employees can spiral.

“Motivation, it turns out, is contagious in both directions,” Poepsel said. “It's remarkably easy to slip into a downward spiral when the people around you are struggling too.”

He argued that reversing this trend requires effort at both the individual and managerial levels. Employees need to take responsibility for self‑care and “emotional agility” so they can stay regulated in tough conditions.

At the same time, managers must make “fit-based assignments, coach to individual preferences and needs, and actively mitigate the boundary wars that inevitably emerge across individuals and teams.”

“When the work fits the person and the environment supports them,” noted Poepsel, “engagement has a fighting chance.”

The trust deficit behind disengagement

If organisations want sustained motivation, Poepsel believes they need to start in a different place than most leadership playbooks recommend.

“Start with trust. Not strategy. Not systems. Trust,” he said.

The survey suggests many disengaged employees can’t even agree with the statement that their manager cares about them as a person outside of work. “That's a low bar, and most managers aren't clearing it,” Poepsel added. “Without that foundation of genuine care, nothing else works.”

Return‑to‑office (RTO) mandates have further strained already fragile relationships. Whatever the business case, many employees experienced the push back to the office as surveillance rather than support.

“The manager had to enforce a policy they may not have written. The employee felt the squeeze. Trust, the lifeblood of any real working relationship, evaporated as collateral damage. And you can't coach someone, adapt to their needs, or help them do their best work from inside a trust deficit.”

The survey also exposed how broken a key management ritual has become: the one‑on‑one meeting. Only 10% of employees say their 1:1s are always productive.

“That's not a scheduling problem. It's a relationship problem,” Poepsel stressed.

He believes this is where HR must step up as a true partner rather than a policing function. Managers bring daily exposure and interpersonal context; HR brings training, behavioural frameworks and organisation‑wide visibility.

“In partnership, HR professionals can help managers build the kind of relationships that make employees feel both capable in their work and connected to the people around them,” he said. “The goal isn't more check-ins. It's better check-ins: relationships grounded in trust, informed by insight, and human enough to actually matter.”

Meaning: Powerful, rare and easily lost

Beyond trust and role fit, the survey underscores the central role of meaning in keeping people motivated – and how few workers experience it consistently.

Only 16% of employees say their work always feels meaningful.

“Meaning is one of the most powerful drivers of motivation and one of the easiest to lose,” Poepsel said. Most people start ready to contribute, but without active effort to cultivate meaning, “the sense of purpose behind the work quietly erodes.”

He emphasises the word “cultivating”: meaning does not maintain itself. In response, The Predictive Index has identified three “Meaning Methods” – leadership practices designed to help organisations build and sustain a sense of purpose at scale.

1. Clarity: Employees need more than a mission statement on the wall. They need a manager who regularly “connects the dots” between their tasks and the bigger picture: this project, this quarter, this contribution to the organisation or customer.

2. Spot recognition: Meaning is reinforced in real time, not just at annual reviews. Poepsel advocates for a culture where managers and peers call out good work as they see it – specifically, immediately and sincerely.

3. Reputation: Promotion decisions, Poepsel argues, are among the loudest cultural signals a company sends.

Together, these three methods are designed to create a “complete loop” of motivation: “I know my work matters. I'm told when I'm on track. I have a future here worth working toward.”

A new playbook for engagement

The study suggests that traditional engagement levers – more perks, more programs, more meetings – are inadequate if trust, fit and meaning are missing.

HR should aim to match people to work that fits them, rebuild trust one relationship at a time, and deliberately cultivate meaning through clarity, real‑time recognition and values‑aligned promotions.

Do that, Poepsel argued, and organisations can convert that early burst of motivation into something more durable – and far more powerful.