Engaged employees stand out because they’re relatively rare. Gallup finds only 30% of all U.S. employees — and a mere 13% of workers worldwide — are engaged in their jobs.Organizations, leaders, managers and teams all have a hand in supporting engagement. Managers, in particular, account for up to 70% of the variance in employee engagement across business units. Engagement levels tend to fluctuate substantially from team to team and from person to person within the same team.
All this variation points to one important factor of engagement that most companies tend to overlook: Unless employees assume some measure of responsibility for their own engagement, the efforts of their organizations, leaders, managers and teams may have a limited effect on improving engagement.
Engagement Is Personal
Though managers have the biggest impact on their team members’ engagement, many managers are unwilling, unable or unprepared to motivate and engage their employees. Gallup finds that 10% of the population have a high level of talent for managing others, and 18% of current managers are a part of this group. If eight out of 10 managers aren’t very motivating to work for, employees who are looking for a more fulfilling experience at work might want to take a more active role in nurturing their own engagement.
Read more: Employees Are Responsible for Their Engagement Too
