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State of Healthcare Employee Experience 2026

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After years of disruption, the healthcare workforce is regaining its footing. Engagement is rising across roles—long-awaited good news for the industry. Still, recovery remains fragile, and performance varies widely across roles and organizations. 

Press Ganey’s “State of Healthcare Employee Experience 2026” report analyzes feedback from more than 2.6 million healthcare employees and physicians to uncover what’s driving improvement—and what leaders must do to sustain it. 

Insights from “State of Healthcare Employee Experience 2026” include: 

  • Momentum is promising, but far from secure: Employee engagement rose from 3.97 to 4.03, and physician engagement from 3.96 to 4.01—the largest gains in eight years. But without sustained focus on safety, support and well-being, and leadership alignment, progress is prone to backslide. 
  • Patient experience tracks closely with engagement: Hospitals in the top quartile for engagement are 4.2x more likely to achieve top patient experience scores—reinforcing engagement as a leading indicator of performance. 
  • Disengagement is one of healthcare’s most expensive risks: Disengaged caregivers are 2.6x more likely to leave, fueling turnover rates of 24% vs. 15% in high-engagement systems. What’s more, this cost an average health system more than $16M annually. 
  • Turnover risk signals appear earlier than most organizations act: 34% of employees who plan to leave within three years exit within one, while 26% of survey nonrespondents leave within a year—compared to 15% of survey respondents. 
  • Attrition pressure is building at both ends of the workforce: Turnover is highest among Gen Z (35%), while retirement has many baby boomers exiting the workforce. At the same time, advanced practice providers remain among the least engaged—highlighting gaps in role clarity, voice, and support. 
  • Trust, safety, and leadership alignment are the missing links: More than a third of employees (35%) and providers (37%) lack confidence in senior leadership, while perceptions of safety and teamwork are emerging as the strongest drivers of sustained engagement and performance. 

Get the full report to see how leading organizations strengthen engagement, reduce turnover risk, and build a more resilient healthcare workforce in 2026 and beyond.