Are Only 29% of Your Employees Engaged?

Marcianne Kuethen

January 31, 2014

According to Gallup’s new State of the Global Workplace study, only 29% of employees in Northern America are engaged in their work. Gallup defines engaged employees as being “psychologically committed to their jobs and likely to be making positive contributions to their organizations.” This first type of employee is the kind you want to hire! Because their passions are aligned with their organization’s goals, when these employees have a choice to slack off or put in the extra effort, they do what it takes to help their team succeed.

Gallup labels the second type as those who are not engaged, meaning they lack motivation and are not as likely to invest discretionary effort to further the organization’s goals or outcomes. The study found that 54% of American workers are not engaged.

John Hope Bryant (see “Toxic Capital That Will Make or Break Your Company”) describes this group like this:

These are not bad people. They may even be good people. They are just not passionate about you, and your company or group. It’s fair to say that they are most likely emotionally disconnected from their workplace. While everyone else is running around talking about how to achieve this objective or that one, they are on the phone with a friend, or talking to that same friend on Facebook. Or maybe they are just daydreaming about their crocheting project at home, or their grandchildren in another state…they are not dreaming about your company’s dreams, or even their department’s dreams.

Gallup categorizes a third group, the remaining 18%, as actively disengaged. These employees are described as unhappy, negatively infectious, and unproductive at work. The study found that 18% of U.S. employees are actively disengaged. As Bryant puts it, “These people are actually dangerous. They don’t like you, and not only are they actively scheming against your company, organization, unit or group, you are paying them to do it.”

At Amtec, we are passionate about helping you “get the right people on the bus,” as author Jim Collins puts it, to build a high-performing team. If you’re about to hire a new employee, let us partner with you to find someone who is aligned with your company’s goals. Our reliable hiring process really works, and our expert recruiters are passionate about helping you source, screen, and select engaged A-players for your team.

By Marcianne Kuethen