Can you imagine a work environment where only 18% of the staff are interested in the jobs they are doing? And yet, according to Gallup this is the prevailing trend in workplaces across Australia.

New data has been released by Gallup since I last wrote on employee engagement.  It appears that (see chart below – employee engagement index) more and more Australians are not engaged in the work they do. Only a small minority work with passion. The vast majority of Australian workers (82%) are not engaged with their work.

The cost to the nation and organisations is high. Gallup estimated the total cost to be between $33.5 – 42.1 billion each year. More worrying than the financial costs, is the finding that workplace disengagement is causing stress and leading people to treat their loved ones poorly at home.

Who’s to blame? is the problem a result of recruitment mistakes or failure of HR? What can be done?  How can corporate Australia get it so wrong when evidence shows engaged employees meant better customer focus and more sales revenue? In the midst of such waste there are more questions than answers.

More details of the study can be downloaded here (note: The presentation is copyrighted material, and remains the intellectual property of Gallup)