A SPECIAL INDUSTRY REPORT 

The State of Healthcare Employee Experience 2026

In a labor-constrained industry, even small declines in engagement and intent to stay have cascading impacts on staffing stability and continuity of care; however, the organizations in the top tier of the benchmark are showing that this slide is not inevitable.

The healthcare industry is at a turning point. Our benchmark analysis of 4.02 million respondents from 557 organizations reveals a critical disconnect between operational efficiency gains and relational trust declines. 

After holding steady through years of disruption, engagement and intent to stay have begun their first meaningful decline since 2020. While healthcare organizations have successfully streamlined clinical workflows and reduced administrative friction, why isn't this progress translating into a better human experience for the frontline?

Download your copy to discover:

• Why engagement is starting to slip and where early signs of retention risk are most visible,
• How a dramatic drop in psychological safety creates direct risks for incident reporting and patient safety,
• Why operational and patient care gains are not translating into better day-to-day workforce experience,
• How to address the growing feedback gap between frontline experience and senior leadership, and
• Three strategic priorities for healthcare leaders to protect workforce stability.