When eNPS Dips but Resignations Don’t, Leaders Must Dig Deep to Decode the Data

New BambooHR data paints a stark picture of the American workplace: morale is slipping, but employees aren’t leaving. In New York, satisfaction ranks in the bottom quartile while hiring activity lags and new job postings sit at the very bottom nationwide. This signals a workforce remaining in place out of necessity, not momentum, showing early signs of what many now call “quiet cracking.”

Dr. Bailey Parnell built her career at the intersection of technology, leadership, and wellbeing. As the Founder and CEO of SkillsCamp and the Founder of the Center for Digital Wellbeing, Parnell is a leading voice on the human side of work. Recognized as one of Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women and a TEDx speaker whose work has reached millions, she suggests the primary driver of engagement isn’t location or corporate policy. Instead, it’s something far more personal: the quality of an employee’s direct manager.

“Half of your waking life, your engagement mostly comes down to one person: a people leader who very likely has not had any training,” says Parnell. People leaders are often promoted for their technical prowess through a process that prioritizes previous technical success over capacity for people management.

• Promoted, not prepared: This gap, Parnell notes, is a major point of failure in most organizations. “Most people are promoted because they were really good at their old job, and then immediately overnight, their new job has nothing to do with that. It becomes all about managing the team: How do you deal with conflict, give feedback, and make people feel valued?”

The leadership gap is widening at the same time the meaning of a “good job” is being rewritten. For many workers, traditional rewards like long-term financial security, predictable career ladders, or home ownership feel increasingly out of reach. As those benchmarks slip, expectations shift toward work that offers stability, respect, flexibility, and a sense of being valued day to day. In that environment, the quality of leadership carries more weight than perks or policies, shaping whether work feels sustainable or quietly draining.

• The happiness equation: Parnell believes when a generation feels traditional life goals are unattainable, they begin to seek fulfillment from other areas of their life, including work. “It’s a ground-up swell, where a generation is deciding they will make less money for a happier existence. That means organizations won’t have a choice. If they don’t deliver on engagement, those people will leave.”

• Life doesn’t stop: Parnell explains that the modern manager’s role is harder now for one simple reason: the barrier between work and life has all but dissolved. With constant connection, external stressors now follow employees into their workday. “You cannot disassociate the brain from who you were before you walked in. What’s happening on the news and what you’re seeing as an overload in society is extremely connected to how you experience the eight hours a day you spend dedicated somewhere else.”

To solve this, Parnell advocates for a two-pronged approach. First, organizations must invest in developing human-centric leadership skills. Second, they must pair quantitative data like eNPS scores with qualitative human insights to understand the story behind the numbers.

• Story in the stats: “Qualitative insights are what allow you to understand why your eNPS is high or low, or whether a flatlining score is due to internal leadership or to factors outside of work.” To get an accurate pulse on how employees really feel, Parnell advises checking in. “Have a leader engage in something like a ‘stay interview.’ A stay interview is just what it sounds like: I am interviewing you to see what we need to do so that you stay and remain engaged.”

Ultimately, Parnell views the lack of leadership development as a systemic issue, and fixing it is crucial for both employee wellbeing and business performance. Parnell believes taking care of employees is the most direct path to taking care of customers. “If your people are happy, so too will your clients be,” she concludes. “The bottom line will follow.”