A stranger in a Toronto pub told me he hadn't spoken to his son in almost ten years, then admitted he couldn't remember what started it. Most managers are carrying a smaller version of the same thing: a person on the team they've quietly stopped talking to properly. Nobody would take it to HR. Nobody is going to raise it either, because the person with the power in the room is you.

Gallup's 2026 State of the Global Workplace reports engagement at a record low, with managers declining fastest. Most wellbeing vendors respond with another engagement initiative. Chris Coulter argues the real driver sits outside the survey's reach: the struggling teen, the aging parent, the divorce, the debt, the unspoken grief your people carry to work and never mention. Here is what employers miss, why managers are breaking, and what asking actually looks like.