Ravinder Tulsiani Unleash the EDGE: Only 30 percent of U.S. workers are engaged in their work, survey finds

Only 30 percent of U.S. workers are engaged in their work, survey finds | Articles | Main .CpButton { cursor:pointer; border:outset 1px #CCCCCC; background:#999999; color:#463E3F; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, Sans-Serif; font-size: 10px; font-weight:bold; padding: 1px 2px; background:url(/Integrations/Centralpoint/Resources/Controls/CpButtonBackground.gif) repeat-x left top; }.CpButtonHover { border:outset 1px #000000; }.CpRating { font-size: 0pt; width: 13px; height: 12px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; cursor: pointer; display: block; background-repeat: no-repeat; }.CpRatingFilled { background-image: url(/Uploads/Public/Images/RatingFilled.png); }.CpRatingEmpty { background-image: url(/Integrations/Centralpoint/Resources/RatingEmpty.png); }.CpRatingSaved { background-image: url(/Integrations/Centralpoint/Resources/RatingSaved.png); }

Home Internal Social Media Recruitment & Retention Leadership Compliance Research Contributors Events Training Videos Advanced
Search »

Yes, I accept Terms of Use.Terms of Use | Today's HeadlinesFollow HR Communication on:

Related Articles By Category Featured Article Featured Article Topic Pages Human Resources Recruitment and Retention box_article_footer_blue

Only 30 percent of U.S. workers are engaged in their work, survey findsGallup asked 150,000 employees whether they like their jobs. A good many actively hate them. Half just kind of tolerate the work day. By Matt Wilson | Posted: June 27, 2013 DataSource: The requested DataSource 5f4ce871-9abc-4ec7-89fd-43fb6c737f57 is not accessible.

A common tactic people use to get their friends to stop complaining about work is to say that everybody hates their jobs.The sentiment may be more than just a way to get people to shut up, though. According to a recentsurvey by Gallup, it's pretty close to true.

Of 150,000 full and part-time employees polled, only 30 percent said they're engaged in their work. Another 50 percent said they aren't engaged, while 20 percent said they're "actively disengaged," which means they outright hate their jobs.

[RELATED: Hear powerful case studies from The Coca-Cola Company, Walmart and Whole Foods Market in October at Microsoft's HQ.]

Why does that matter? People who report being engaged in their work are more productive, less likely to leave, and even less likely to have accidents on the job. Disengaged employees are more likely to skip work, negatively influence co-workers and scare off customers.

Gallup offers a few solutions: Managers can help make employees more engaged by focusing on their strengths rather than their weaknesses, for example. Employees who work remotely actually log more time than those who work in offices.

[RELATED: The benefits of telecommuting.]

It apparently helps to know the company's mission, too. About 41 percent of the respondents said they have no idea what their company stands for.

Some things are less easy to fix, though. Service workers are the most disengaged of any type of employee. Their engagement has decreased while the engagement of employees in other sectors has gone up.

(Image via)

Popularity: This record has been viewed 295 times. !function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs");