At Work, Feeling Good Matters
Jerry Krueger and Emily Killham
Gallup Management Journal, December 2005
Employee perceptions and feelings at work make the difference between engaged and disengaged workers. Gallup Management Journal surveyed 1,000 U.S. employees aged 18 and over on their happiness, well-being and satisfaction with their job. Gallup then typed employees as “Engaged”, or passionate employees that feel a connection to their employer, “Not-Engaged”, or employees who are “checked out”, and “Actively Disengaged”, employees that dislike their jobs and make efforts to show it. The results of the survey demonstrate the American Psychological Association’s recent findings that feelings are relevant in the business world and affect behavior in a measurable way.
Engaged employees are more satisfied at work, according to the survey. 86 percent of engaged workers have positive interactions with coworkers, 77 percent believe their supervisor focuses on their strengths, 61 percent say their work challenges them and only 13% often feel frustrated at work. Engaged employees also reported a better quality of home life and overall life satisfaction.
Not-engaged employees seem more ambivalent. Only 23 percent of not-engaged employees think their supervisors like them, but 72 percent report mostly positive interactions with management. They also feel less challenged at work: 49 percent are frequently challenged at work and 39 percent are often challenged. Only 19 percent of not-engaged employees report their work as a major source of happiness in their lives.
Actively disengaged employees have very different survey results. Positive interactions with supervisors are only reported 45 percent of the time but felt supervisors focused on their strengths 4 percent of the time, and only 24 percent feel challenged at work. The 14 percent of respondents who claim themselves as actively disengaged raise serious concerns for organizations. Gallup reports that losses in productivity from actively disengaged employees costs the U.S. economy roughly $300 billion.
The full survey results are available to members at the Gallup Management Journal’s website.