According to the Gallup Management Journal’s Employee Engagement Index, only 29% of employees feel fully engaged in their work, while 54% report not being engaged, and another 17% are knowingly disengaged.

Figures indicate that no more than 1/3 of employees report that they are passionate about the work they do.

A May 26, 2010 article in the Wall Street Journal, “More Workers Start to Quit,” reports that heavy cost-cutting and downsizing have affected workers’ morale, making it harder for companies to retain employees.

The article also states that a survey conducted last summer for the Conference Board, a management research organization, found that the drivers of the drop in job fulfillment included less satisfaction with wages and less interest in work. In 2009, 34.6% of workers were satisfied with their wages, down more than seven percentage points from 1987. About 51% in 2009 said they were interested in work, down 19 percentage points from 1987.

“Employees feel disengaged with their jobs, which is going to lead to a lot of churn as we come out of the recession,” says Brett Good, a district president of Southern California for Robert Half International, an executive recruiting firm.

Further information on Gallup’s research is available at:

http://www.gallup.com/consulting/52/employee-engagement.aspx