Employer Branding Statistics 2026: Investment, ROI, Engagement and Turnover
78% of organisations invest in employer branding, according to The Conference Board, but only 41% of those investors measure its return and 18% can share that return internally. The brand they are selling sits on weak ground. 20% of employees worldwide were engaged at work in 2025, according to Gallup, down from 23% in 2022.
Key statistics
- 78% of organisations invested in employer branding in 2025, according to The Conference Board.
- 18% of organisations that invested in employer branding were able to share its ROI internally in 2025, according to The Conference Board.
- 20% of employees worldwide were engaged at work in 2025, according to Gallup.
- Low employee engagement cost the world economy an estimated $10 trillion in lost productivity in 2025, or 9% of global GDP, according to Gallup.
- US workers quit 3.07 million jobs in August 2026, a quits rate of 1.9%, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Employer branding statistics
Most large organisations now spend money on employer branding. The Conference Board's 2025 survey is the most recent public data on who invests, why and how much.
Employer branding is a talent tool first. 87% of investors say they do it to attract top talent. Only 6% say they do it to cut the cost of hiring, even though lower cost per hire is one of the outcomes most often promised for it.
Budgets look stable rather than growing fast. Half of investors plan to hold spending flat. Those planning to spend more outnumber those planning to spend less by 8 points. Size drives the budget. Firms with fewer than 25,000 staff spend under $500,000 a year, and firms with more than 100,000 spend over $1 million.
Source: The Conference Board (2025).
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78% of organisations invested in employer branding in 2025, according to The Conference Board.
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87% of organisations investing in employer branding did so to attract top talent in 2025, according to The Conference Board.
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39% of organisations investing in employer branding aimed to enhance company reputation in 2025, according to The Conference Board.
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6% of organisations investing in employer branding wanted to reduce the cost of hiring in 2025, according to The Conference Board.
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49% of organisations investing in employer branding planned to spend the same amount on it in 2025, according to The Conference Board.
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23% of organisations investing in employer branding planned to spend more on it in 2025, according to The Conference Board.
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15% of organisations investing in employer branding planned to spend less on it in 2025, according to The Conference Board.
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Employer branding investors planning to spend more outnumbered those planning to spend less by 8 points in 2025, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from The Conference Board data.
How we calculated it: 23% plan to invest more minus 15% plan to invest less = net +8 points.
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Organisations with more than 100,000 employees spent more than $1 million a year on employer branding in 2025, according to The Conference Board.
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56% of surveyed leaders said employer branding investment enhanced their organisation's image in 2025, according to The Conference Board.
| Measure | Share of investing organisations |
|---|---|
| Invest to attract top talent | 87% |
| Invest to enhance company reputation | 39% |
| Invest to reduce the cost of hiring | 6% |
| Plan to spend the same in 2025 | 49% |
| Plan to spend more in 2025 | 23% |
| Plan to spend less in 2025 | 15% |
Employer brand ROI statistics
The gap between spending and proof is the main finding in the employer branding data. Most investors track something. Few can show a return.
41% of investors measure ROI, but only 18% can share it inside the organisation. That is a 23-point gap between counting and convincing.
The metrics in use explain part of the gap. The most tracked outcomes are top-of-funnel signals, such as social media impressions (49%) and careers site visits (45%). Only 3% track revenue per employee, the kind of business result a finance team would accept as a return.
Source: The Conference Board (2025).
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68% of organisations that invested in employer branding measured any outcome of it in 2025, according to The Conference Board.
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41% of organisations that invested in employer branding measured its return on investment in 2025, according to The Conference Board.
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23 points separated employer branding investors that measured ROI from those that could share it internally in 2025, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from The Conference Board data.
How we calculated it: 41% measured ROI minus 18% able to share ROI internally = 23 points (both shares of organisations that invest in employer branding).
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45% of organisations measuring employer branding outcomes tracked careers site visits in 2025, according to The Conference Board.
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3% of organisations measuring employer branding outcomes tracked revenue per employee in 2025, according to The Conference Board.
| Measure | Share | Base |
|---|---|---|
| Measured any outcome | 68% | Investing organisations |
| Measured ROI | 41% | Investing organisations |
| Able to share ROI internally | 18% | Investing organisations |
| Tracked social media engagement and impressions | 49% | Organisations measuring outcomes |
| Tracked careers site visits | 45% | Organisations measuring outcomes |
| Tracked application rates | 41% | Organisations measuring outcomes |
| Tracked revenue per employee | 3% | Organisations measuring outcomes |
Employee engagement and the employer brand
An employer brand is a promise about the experience of work. Gallup's World Poll is the largest measure of how that experience feels to employees.
Global engagement fell to 20% in 2025. That is 3 points below the 2022 and 2023 peak and the second fall in a row, the first time that has happened in Gallup's series. Gallup puts the cost of low engagement at about $10 trillion in lost productivity, or 9% of global GDP.
Managers drove the fall. Manager engagement dropped from 31% in 2022 to 22% in 2025, a 29% relative fall. Individual contributors barely moved, at 19%. Managers are the people candidates meet in interviews and new hires report to, so their mood is part of the employer brand whether it is marketed or not.
Wellbeing is mixed. 34% of employees were thriving in 2025, up a point on 2024, while 40% felt a lot of stress the day before they were surveyed.
Source: Gallup, State of the Global Workplace 2026.
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20% of employees worldwide were engaged at work in 2025, according to Gallup.
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23% of employees worldwide were engaged at work in 2022 and 2023, the highest level on record, according to Gallup.
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Global employee engagement was 3 points lower in 2025 than at its 2022 peak, a 13% relative fall, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from Gallup data.
How we calculated it: 23% engaged in 2022 minus 20% in 2025 = 3 points. 3 / 23 = 13.0% relative fall (State of the Global Workplace 2026 trend table).
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Low employee engagement cost the world economy an estimated $10 trillion in lost productivity in 2025, or 9% of global GDP, according to Gallup.
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22% of managers worldwide were engaged at work in 2025, down from 27% in 2024, according to Gallup.
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Global manager engagement fell by 29% between 2022 and 2025, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from Gallup data.
How we calculated it: Manager engagement 31% in 2022 and 22% in 2025. (31 - 22) / 31 = 29.0% (State of the Global Workplace 2026, Global Engagement by Role table).
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19% of individual contributors worldwide were engaged at work in 2025, according to Gallup.
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40% of employees worldwide experienced a lot of stress during the previous day in 2025, according to Gallup.
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34% of employees worldwide were thriving in their overall lives in 2025, according to Gallup.
| Year | Engaged |
|---|---|
| 2019 | 22% |
| 2020 | 20% |
| 2021 | 21% |
| 2022 | 23% |
| 2023 | 23% |
| 2024 | 21% |
| 2025 | 20% |
Employee engagement by region
Engagement varies more by region than it changes over time. That matters for employer brands that run one global message.
Employees in the United States and Canada were 2.6 times as likely to be engaged as employees in Europe. No region raised engagement in 2025, and South Asia fell the most, by 5 points.
Workers' sense of their options has shifted too. 52% of employees worldwide said it was a good time to find a job. In the United States and Canada that figure was 47%, down from 70% in 2019. Fewer outside options can mask weak engagement, because people who would leave stay put. For more on where people work, see our remote work statistics.
Source: Gallup, State of the Global Workplace 2026.
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31% of employees in the United States and Canada were engaged at work in 2025, the highest of any region, according to Gallup.
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12% of employees in Europe were engaged at work in 2025, the lowest of any region, according to Gallup.
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Employees in the United States and Canada were 2.6 times as likely to be engaged as employees in Europe in 2025, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from Gallup data.
How we calculated it: United States and Canada 31% engaged / Europe 12% engaged = 2.58 (State of the Global Workplace 2026 regional data).
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52% of employees worldwide said in 2025 that now is a good time to find a job in their local market, according to Gallup.
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47% of employees in the United States and Canada said in 2025 that now is a good time to find a job, down from 70% in 2019, according to Gallup.
| Region | Engaged |
|---|---|
| United States and Canada | 31% |
| Latin America and the Caribbean | 30% |
| Southeast Asia | 25% |
| Post-Soviet Eurasia | 25% |
| Australia and New Zealand | 21% |
| South Asia | 21% |
| Sub-Saharan Africa | 19% |
| East Asia | 18% |
| Middle East and North Africa | 14% |
| Europe | 12% |
Quits, cost per hire and time to fill
Turnover is the cost an employer brand is meant to reduce. US official data shows how many people leave and where.
US quits were flat over the year at about 3.1 million a month, a rate of 1.9%. Quits still make up 60% of all separations, so voluntary leaving remains the main way people exit a job. Openings rose 2.3% while layoffs fell 10.4%.
Turnover is concentrated. Accommodation and food services had a quits rate of 3.5%, 5 times the 0.7% rate in government. Retail trade was at 3.0%. Employer brand work aimed at frontline staff faces a different problem from work aimed at office roles.
On the hiring side, SHRM's 2026 benchmarking found median time to fill for non-executive roles fell to 39 days. SHRM says executive cost per hire rose while non-executive cost stayed stable, but its dollar figures are member-only, so we do not repeat them here. For revenue roles, see our sales statistics.
Source: US Bureau of Labor Statistics, JOLTS, August 2026 (preliminary, seasonally adjusted).
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US workers quit 3.07 million jobs in August 2026, a quits rate of 1.9%, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
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US quits were 0.9% lower in August 2026 than in August 2025, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from US Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
How we calculated it: Quits 3,066,000 in August 2026 vs 3,095,000 in August 2025. (3,066 - 3,095) / 3,095 = -0.94%.
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US employers had 7.08 million job openings in August 2026, an openings rate of 4.3%, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
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US job openings were 2.3% higher in August 2026 than in August 2025, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from US Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
How we calculated it: Job openings 7,079,000 in August 2026 vs 6,919,000 in August 2025. (7,079 - 6,919) / 6,919 = 2.31%.
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US employers made 5.19 million hires in August 2026, a hires rate of 3.3%, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
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US employers had 1.36 job openings for every hire in August 2026, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from US Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
How we calculated it: Job openings 7,079,000 / hires 5,192,000 = 1.36 (August 2026, seasonally adjusted).
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Accommodation and food services had a quits rate of 3.5% in August 2026, the highest of any US industry, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
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Government had a quits rate of 0.7% in August 2026, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
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Accommodation and food services workers quit at 5 times the rate of government workers in August 2026, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from US Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
How we calculated it: Quits rate 3.5% in accommodation and food services / 0.7% in government = 5.0 (August 2026, seasonally adjusted).
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US organisations took a median 39 calendar days to fill non-executive roles in 2026, according to SHRM.
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97% of non-executive roles were filled externally at the median US organisation in 2026, up from 93% in 2025, according to SHRM.
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Median requisitions per recruiter rose 67% at extra-large US organisations in 2026, according to SHRM.
| Measure | August 2025 | August 2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Job openings | 6,919 | 7,079 | +2.3% |
| Hires | 5,145 | 5,192 | +0.9% |
| Quits | 3,095 | 3,066 | -0.9% |
| Layoffs and discharges | 1,832 | 1,641 | -10.4% |
| Total separations | 5,207 | 5,070 | -2.6% |
How these sources measure employer branding
There is little primary data on employer branding itself. Each source here measures a different part of it, with different limits.
The Conference Board figures come from a survey of organisational leaders reported in April 2025. The public release does not give the sample size, the countries covered or the fieldwork dates. The full reports are for members only. Treat the shares as indicative.
Gallup's engagement data comes from the World Poll, with 263,810 respondents (141,444 employed) in 2025, sampled to be nationally representative and weighted. Engagement uses Gallup's own Q12 items. The $10 trillion cost is Gallup's modelled estimate, not a measured spend.
BLS JOLTS is an official monthly survey of US establishments. The latest month is preliminary and is revised. The August 2025 figures used here are the revised ones in the September 2026 release. They differ from the first estimates, which showed 7.2 million openings.
SHRM benchmarking draws on more than 4,600 organisations, but most detail sits behind a paywall. Many widely repeated employer branding statistics, such as older LinkedIn talent brand figures, come from studies that are now several years old or cannot be checked. We leave them out.
Frequently asked questions
What percentage of companies invest in employer branding?
78% of organisations invested in employer branding in 2025, according to The Conference Board. 87% of those investors did so to attract top talent.
Do companies measure the ROI of employer branding?
41% of organisations that invest in employer branding measured its ROI in 2025, and 18% could share that ROI internally, according to The Conference Board. 68% measured some outcome.
How much do companies spend on employer branding?
Organisations with more than 100,000 employees spent more than $1 million a year on employer branding in 2025, according to The Conference Board. Organisations with fewer than 25,000 employees spent less than $500,000.
Is employee engagement lower than last year?
Yes. 20% of employees worldwide were engaged in 2025, down from 21% in 2024 and 23% in 2022, according to Gallup. Manager engagement fell from 27% to 22% in a year.
Which region has the highest employee engagement?
The United States and Canada had the highest engagement in 2025, at 31%, according to Gallup. Europe had the lowest, at 12%.
How many US workers quit their jobs each month?
US workers quit 3.07 million jobs in August 2026, a quits rate of 1.9%, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. That was 0.9% fewer than in August 2025.
Sources
- The Conference Board, Most Firms Invest in Employer Branding, but Few Share Its ROI (press release), 2 April 2025. Link · Saved data copy
- Gallup, State of the Global Workplace: 2026 Report, April 2026. Link · Saved data copy
- US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, August 2026 (tables), 29 September 2026. Link · Saved data copy · Licence: Public domain (US government work)
- Gallup, State of the Global Workplace 2026: Global and Regional Data, April 2026. Link · Saved data copy
- SHRM, 2026 Recruiting Executives Benchmarking: Attracting Critical Talent, June 2026. Link · Saved data copy
Changes to this page
- : Page published with Conference Board 2025, Gallup 2026, BLS JOLTS to August 2026 and SHRM 2026 data.