Gen Y Employees Not Engaged?

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Nancy L. Brown, PhD

Results from a global study by Blessing White called "The State of Employee Engagement 2008" reported that Generation Y employees are the least engaged in the workplace on four continents. In North America, the report suggests that only one out of three employees is engaged.

The report is based on 7,500 individuals and interviews with 40 senior human resource and line managers, with the bottom line being, the older the employee, the more engaged the employee. This left me wondering if engagement leads to power and position or if power and position leads to engagement?

When trying to get a grip on what they meant by "engaged," I loved this line: "engaged employees stay for what they give, while disengaged employees stay for what they get." That pretty much said it all to me. Engaged employees plan to stay with a company while disengaged employees are always looking for a higher salary, better stock options, etc... The report suggests that engaged employees are more productive, committed, proud, passionate, and enthusiastic compared to unengaged employees who tend to feel underutilized, disconnected and negative.

Just FYI, the highest rate of engaged Gen Y employees, and the happiest employees were in India, which may reflect expanded opportunities from that growing economy.

Photo credit: debaird

Labels: Employment, Healthline

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