EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT CAN VARY SUBSTANTIALLY from organization to organization and team to team. Most of the variation in engagement can be attributed to the way performance is managed locally. But at an aggregate level, some differences in engagement can be explained by other factors, including job category, gender, age, geography, company size and education.

LEADERS AND MANAGERS SURPASS OTHER OCCUPATIONS

From 2012 to 2016, the greatest increases in engagement by job category were found in transportation, sales, and construction or mining.

Growth in these workers' engagement could be due to growth in their respective industries. In 2016, CareerBuilder and Economic Modeling Specialists Intl. found that some of the most in-demand jobs included sales managers, insurance sales agents, heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers, bus and truck mechanics, and diesel engine specialists. And as the U.S. has recovered from the Great Recession and revived new construction, companies in this industry have again found themselves with a need for skilled workers. As transportation, sales, and construction and mining segments grow, they may be putting more emphasis on their hiring and retention strategies as a way to keep up with demand. The U.S. mining industry has not experienced the same boon in business, but construction workers could be helping to raise this group's overall engagement numbers.

While the engagement of managers and executives grew by just two percentage points from 2012 to 2016, employees in these jobs still have the highest overall levels of engagement by job category. Thirty-eight percent of workers in this group are engaged, a percentage largely supported by the engagement of executives. When we examine executives and front-line managers (those who only manage individual contributors) separately, we find that 45% of executives are engaged versus just 29% of managers.

The lack of engagement among front-line managers could be wreaking havoc on engagement among front-line employees. Essentially, managers' engagement directly influences their employees' engagement, creating what Gallup calls the "cascade effect," and the link between the two is powerful. Employees who are supervised by highly engaged managers are 59% more likely to be engaged than those supervised by actively disengaged managers.

Professional workers and construction and mining workers have the second- highest levels of engagement by occupation. These findings are consistent with Gallup's tracking history. Professional workers tend to be on the higher end of engagement. Individuals in this category are more likely to work in roles that reflect their talents and interests, helping to increase their engagement. Construction and mining workers have traditionally also been among the more engaged workers.

Professional workers tend to be on the higher end of engagement. Individuals in this category are more likely to work in roles that reflect their talents and interests, helping to increase their engagement.

Employees in manufacturing jobs are the least engaged. Equally discouraging is the alarming number of actively disengaged employees in manufacturing roles. The manufacturing industry has as many actively disengaged workers as it does engaged workers. The traditional management mentality in this industry tends to put process ahead of people, possibly accounting for some of the engagement obstacles.

Gallup Q<sup>12</sup> data reveal that about six in 10 manufacturing workers know what's expected of them. They give their highest scores to this element of engagement. However, manufacturing workers score distressingly low on other elements. Not even three in 10 of these workers strongly agree that the mission or purpose of their organization makes them feel their job is important or that their coworkers are committed to doing quality work. Barely two in 10 strongly agree that someone at work encourages their development, has recognized them for doing good work or has talked to them about their progress.

WOMEN OUTSCORE MEN

Female employees are more engaged than male employees and have been throughout Gallup's history of tracking the metric.

As Gallup shared in Women in America: Work and Life Well-Lived, female employees outscore male employees on 11 of the 12 engagement elements and outscore male employees considerably on five of those elements. Compared with male employees, female employees are:

10 percentage points more likely to strongly agree that they received recognition or praise for doing good work in the last seven days

eight percentage points more likely to strongly agree that someone at work encourages their development

six percentage points more likely to strongly agree that they have an opportunity to do what they do best every day

six percentage points more likely to strongly agree that someone at work seems to care about them as a person

six percentage points more likely to strongly agree that the mission or purpose of their organization makes them feel their job is important

Job choice can also explain some of the difference in engagement levels between men and women. A higher percentage of men than women say they work in manufacturing and production jobs, which are consistently linked to lower levels of engagement. On the other hand, more women than men say they work in professional jobs, which are associated with higher levels of engagement.

With one exception, women are more engaged than men in every type of job including management, professional, service and support jobs. In leadership roles, however, men are more engaged than women (50% vs. 35%).

While many factors could account for this difference, the gap in engagement scores among men and women leaders is particularly pronounced on

these elements:

My supervisor, or someone at work, seems to care about me as a person.

At work, my opinions seem to count.

In the last seven days, I have received recognition or praise for doing good work.

I know what is expected of me at work.

I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right.

There is someone at work who encourages my development.

MILLENNIALS TRAIL OTHER GENERATIONS

The generation with the lowest percentage of engaged employees in the workplace is millennials. This group also has the lowest percentage of actively disengaged employees. The opposite is true of baby boomers -- this generation has the highest percentage of engaged employees, as well as the highest percentage of actively disengaged employees.

The gap in engagement scores among the various generations is not substantial, even when Gallup further deconstructs the data on millennials. Thirty percent of younger millennials -- those born between 1990 and 1998 -- are engaged, compared with 33% of older millennials -- those born between 1980 and 1989. Older millennials have the same engagement level as Gen Xers.

Engagement improves with employees' age. Perhaps as millennials get older and increasingly find work that fits them, their levels of engagement follow suit and also rise. But for the time being, millennials are largely feeling indifferent about their work. Gallup's extensive research and analytics on this generation reveal that millennials are a driving force behind workplace change. They are pushing companies to see and manage their workforces differently. They may feel like they are "waiting" for their employers to catch up with them.

Millennials also highly value development in a role. In How Millennials Want to Work and Live, Gallup reported that 87% of this generation rate "professional or career growth and development opportunities" as important to them in a job. However, only 39% strongly agree they have learned something new in the past 30 days that they can use to do their job better. Slightly less than one in two millennials strongly agree that they have had opportunities to learn and grow within the past year. Millennials want to grow in their roles, but many aren't getting the support to do so.

ALABAMA IS THE FRONT-RUNNER IN STATES' ENGAGEMENT

Alabama leads the country with the highest percentage of engaged workers, at 37%, followed closely by Delaware, Kentucky and Louisiana at 36%. Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, Hawaii, Maine, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas each have 35% employee engagement. At the far end of the range are Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York, which each have the lowest percentage of engaged workers: 29%.

At the opposite end of the engagement spectrum, more than one in five workers in West Virginia (21%) are actively disengaged, as are 19% of employees in Nevada, New Mexico, New York and Pennsylvania. Alaska and Utah have the lowest percentage of actively disengaged employees: 13%.

When Gallup examines the patterns of engagement across the 50 states, we find the more highly engaged states tend to have greater proportions of workers who are:

self-employed on a full-time basis

high school graduates, but not college graduates

employed in blue collar roles in industries such as transportation, installation and repair, and farming and fishing

The cumulative data appear to connect higher levels of engagement with small businesses and autonomy.

States with higher percentages of actively disengaged employees have higher unemployment rates than states with lower percentages of employees who are actively disengaged. For example, the five states where at least 19% of workers are actively disengaged average 7.2% unemployment. In contrast, the five states where 13% to 14% of workers are actively disengaged average 4.6% unemployment. Employees in states with a greater incidence of active disengagement may find it more difficult to find the type of work they want. Similarly, organizations in these states are perhaps not able to increase their hiring and, as such, do not believe they have incentive to create a differentiating workplace that can compete effectively for new talent.

On the positive end of the engagement continuum, states with 35% or more engaged employees have slightly higher proportions of full-time, self-employed workers, compared with states that have 30% or fewer engaged workers (9% full-time, self-employed employees vs. 7% full-time, self-employed employees, respectively). This difference in proportion likely reflects smaller organizations in the states with higher engagement.

BIG COMPANIES NEED THE MOST IMPROVEMENT

The largest companies in the U.S. have the lowest levels of engagement. Conversely, the smallest companies have the highest levels of engagement. Companies with less than 25 employees far outpace organizations of any size, besting their engagement by a difference of eight to 12 percentage points. From 2012 to 2016, the engagement of small companies grew by five percentage points, while the engagement of other companies barely budged or even diminished.

Engagement presents the greatest challenge for companies with 1,000 or more employees. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 52% of employees work for companies with at least 1,000 employees, making the engagement of these organizations' workforces critical to economic progress.

Gallup analysis shows that the 1,000-employee mark seems to be the tipping point for declining engagement within a company. When an organization reaches this size, a smaller percentage of employees strongly agree that they have the opportunity to do what they do best every day and that their organization's mission or purpose makes them feel their job is important.

A smaller percentage of employees strongly agree that they have the materials and equipment to do their job right and that they have opportunities at work to learn and grow.

The larger an organization, the greater the chance of inconsistency and misalignment. Managers may be responsible for more employees than they can support effectively. Workers may feel like just another number with no understanding of how their role connects to the company's vision or strategies. In small companies, people are more likely to know each other and the leaders of the organization -- they know how all the pieces fit together and understand the value of their role.

As organizations expand, it can also become more challenging for leaders and managers to keep true to the core of their culture. The values that support culture may scatter as the workforce grows or scatters. Employees are perhaps less likely to see leaders, managers and coworkers modeling the behaviors that reflect or reinforce the organization's foundation.

HIGHER EDUCATION DOESN'T ALWAYS EQUATE TO HIGHER ENGAGEMENT

Employees with a high school diploma or less represent the most engaged group of employees, followed closely by those who have completed some college and those who have a postgraduate degree or who have done postgraduate work. Among the levels of education, employees with college degrees but no postgraduate work rank last in engagement.

College graduates who have invested time and money into earning a college degree may have expectations of their managers and workplaces that often go unmet. The 2015 Gallup-Purdue Index study reveals that only half of U.S. college graduates strongly agree their undergraduate education was worth the cost. Recent graduates, those who obtained their bachelor's degree in years from 2006 through 2015, are significantly less likely to strongly agree with the same statement: Only 38% of recent alumni strongly agree their education was worth the cost.

Gallup also has discovered that 68% of college graduates say they are overqualified for their current job, meaning they have more education than is required for their role. These employees may be in a job that isn't a good fit for their skills, talents and strengths, and they may feel unfulfilled and uninspired as a result. More than half of college graduates (59%) are in clerical, office, sales and service roles, while 31% are in professional roles. Comparatively, 19% of workers who have a postgraduate degree or who have done postgraduate work are in clerical, office, sales and service roles, and 35% are in professional roles.

Employees with a high school diploma are the most likely of all employees to work in a job in construction or mining; service; manufacturing or production; transportation; and installation or repair. While these employees hold the majority of manufacturing or production jobs, their total engagement is lifted by their participation in other, more engaging industries. For example, 11% of high school graduates work in professional roles.

Employees of all education levels work in a variety of jobs -- jobs that fall at any level on the engagement spectrum. A 2016 study from the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce discovered that people with a college degree now outnumber people with a high school diploma. There are more college graduates in the workforce, and many are struggling to find a job that makes their degree seem worthwhile. This overall feeling of disappointment may be contributing to their lower level of engagement, compared with the engagement level of those who have other levels of education.

There are more college graduates in the workforce, and many are struggling to find a job that makes their degree seem worthwhile.

Source: https://news.gallup.com/reports/199961/7.aspx?utm_source=SOAW&utm_campaign=StateofAmericanWorkplace&utm_medium=2013SOAWreport