New York, January 13, 2005 -- The extent to which employees
are engaged at work has a dramatic impact on their physical health
and psychological well-being, according to a recent Gallup
Organization study.
Among engaged employees, a clear majority -- 62% -- feel their
work lives positively affect their physical health. That number
plummets to 39% among "not-engaged" employees and 22% among the
"actively disengaged." (For definitions, see sidebar "The Three
Types of Employees.") More alarming is the fact that a
majority of actively disengaged employees -- 54% -- say
they think their work lives are having a negative effect on their
physical health. Thirty percent of not-engaged employees and just
12% of engaged employees say the same.
Gallup's latest Employee Engagement Index appears this month in
the Gallup Management Journal (GMJ). Looking at the
overall numbers: 43% of employees feel their work lives affect
their physical health positively, 29% say negatively, and 27% say
not at all.
Isolating job categories that are more likely to be physically
demanding -- such as service workers, skilled tradesmen,
semi-skilled workers, and laborers -- yields little difference: 43%
of such workers say their day-to-day jobs affect their physical
health positively, as did 43% of those more likely to have desk
jobs. Thirty-one percent of those in jobs more likely to involve
physical work feel their jobs are harmful to their physical health;
28% of those in less physical jobs say the same.
Psychological well-being
The numbers are slightly better when it comes to mental
health. Overall, 52% of employees say their work lives positively
affect their psychological well-being, 21% feel the effect is
negative, and 27% say there is no effect.
But the differences by engagement level are even more dramatic:
78% of engaged workers feel their work lives benefit them
psychologically. Just under half (48%) of not-engaged employees and
a meager 15% of actively disengaged employees say the same.
Conversely, just over half (51%) of actively disengaged employees
feel their work lives are having a negative effect on their
psychological well-being, compared to 20% of not-engaged workers
and just 6% of engaged workers.
The survey also asks employees whether they had three or more
days in the past month when work stress caused them to behave
poorly with their family or friends. Overall, almost a third (32%)
say yes. But again, the differences by engagement level are
striking: Just over half (51%) of actively disengaged employees say
yes, compared to 35% of not-engaged employees and 18% of engaged
employees.
The work-health connection
All of this leads to obvious questions: What's the connection?
How can engagement with one's job have any bearing on
healthfulness?
"First, as any good researcher will tell you, correlation
doesn't imply causality," says Steve Crabtree, the GMJ
writer who reports the findings in his article "Engagement Keeps
the Doctor Away." "In this case, it may be that those who say their
jobs positively affect their health are simply more optimistic
overall and therefore are more likely to be engaged in their
work."
But, Crabtree adds, for managers and hiring professionals, that
doesn't change the implication: "Engaged employees are more likely
than others to view their jobs as healthy."
Results of this survey are based on nationally
representative samples of about 1,000 employed adults aged 18 and
older. Interviews were conducted by telephone October 2000-October
2004 by The Gallup Organization. For results based on samples of
this size, one can say with 95% confidence that the error
attributable to sampling and other random effects could be plus or
minus three percentage points. For findings based on subgroups, the
sampling error would be greater.
The Gallup Management Journal is an online journal
published monthly by The Gallup Organization. For more information,
go to http://gmj.gallup.com.
The Gallup Organization has studied human nature and behavior
for more than 70 years. Gallup employs many of the world's leading
scientists in management, economics, psychology, and sociology.
Gallup performance management systems help organizations increase
customer engagement and maximize employee productivity through
measurement tools, coursework, and strategic advisory services.
Gallup's 2,000 professionals deliver services at client
organizations, through the Web, at Gallup University's campuses,
and in 40 offices around the world.