Seventy One Percent of Americans Disengaged at Work

Responses from American workers In a recent tracking poll from Gallup, revealed that 71% of Americans were "not engaged" or "actively disengaged" as it relates to their work. Gallup defines this disengagement to mean, "they are emotionally disconnected from their workplaces and are less likely to be productive." If these results are right and 71% of Americans are emotionally disconnected from their workplaces that leaves just 29% of us to carry the mantle of productivity within our organizations. That means that those Americans who are engaged in their workplaces are outnumbered two to one.

Gallup has been studying trends on workplace engagement since 2000 and these most recent results appear to be consistent over the years. Reports are that today's 29% of American workers was only outpaced by a number of 30% in the periods of 2001 to 2002 and 2006 to 2007.

Some of the highlights from this most recent report based on demographics are as follows:

-In terms of Age of the respondents, the 65+ demographic showed the highest level of engagement with work at 44%. Those in the 30 to 44 and 45 to 64 age groups showed lowest engagement at 28%. Eighteen to 29 year-olds showed 32% engagement.

-The education results were somewhat surprising with 34% of those Americans with a high-school diploma or less, showing the highest level of engagement. This compares to 27% of Americans with post graduate education or a degree.

-Women were more engaged at work than men at 33% versus 27%.

-In terms of annual income, those with less than $36,000 income and those with $90,000 plus income were engaged at a rate of 30%. Those with incomes between those two ends of the range showed 28%.

One other useful note from the results is that it appears that engaged employees are twice as likely as those who are actively disengaged to say their employer is hiring.