Table of Contents
Report
Global Employee Engagement Data 2020
What is Employee Engagement?
The term Employee Engagement was coined by William Kahn, Professor of Organizational Behaviour at Boston University. In his 1990 paper Psychological Conditions of Personal Engagement and Disengagement at Work he defined engagement as an employee’s ability to harness their “full self” at work.
An engaged employee, who is able to harness their full self, will display loyalty and ownership. For example, they will tackle tasks without being asked, because they want to, and because they believe that their extra effort will benefit their organisation.
Employees that aren’t engaged fall into two buckets. Disengaged employees could be described as “passive” and won’t apply discretionary effort in the workplace. Actively disengaged employees represent employees that are significantly dissatisfied and less productive at work.
Overall Employee Engagement Data
- As of January 2020, 41% of employees globally are engaged. 38% of employees are disengaged, and 21% of employees are actively disengaged.
Employee Engagement Data by Gender
- 41% of employees who identify as women are engaged, 38% are disengaged and 21% are actively disengaged.
- 43% of employees who identify as men are engaged, 38% are disengaged and 19% are actively disengaged.
A note on gender:
Some employees choose not to disclose gender on the Workday Peakon Employee Voice platform. Although we do track employees that do not identify as either gender, we don’t currently have a representative sample of this identity group that allows us to draw conclusions.
Employee Engagement Data by Generation
- 49% of Generation Z employees are engaged, 37% are disengaged and 14% are actively disengaged.
- 41% of Millennial employees are engaged, 39% are disengaged and 20% are actively disengaged.
- 46% of Generation X employees are engaged, 35% are disengaged and 19% are actively disengaged.
- 45% of Baby Boomer employees are engaged, 34% are disengaged and 21% are actively disengaged.
- 55% of Silent Generation employees are engaged, 29% are disengaged and 16% are actively disengaged.
A note on generation:
While the parameters that define each generation may vary, for the purposes of our figures we’ve chosen to use the guidelines defined by the Pew Research Center.
The Silent Generation, which spans people born from 1928 to 1945, comprises the tail end of the current workforce. Following them are the Baby Boomers, whose generation spans 18 years from 1946 to 1964. They are succeeded by Generation X, who were born between 1965 and 1980. Millennials, who are expected to make up the majority of the workforce this year, comprise people born from 1981 to 1996. The final generation — known as Generation Z — began in 1997.
Employee Engagement Data by Industry
- 42% of Consumer employees are engaged, 37% are disengaged and 22% are actively disengaged.
- 39% of Education employees are engaged, 37% are disengaged and 23% are actively disengaged.
- 33% of Energy employees are engaged, 38% are disengaged and 29% are actively disengaged.
- 40% of Finance employees are engaged, 39% are disengaged and 21% are actively disengaged.
- 41% of Healthcare employees are engaged, 36% are disengaged and 23% are actively disengaged.
- 34% of Manufacturing employees are engaged, 38% are disengaged and 27% are actively disengaged.
- 39% of Non-Profit employees are engaged, 40% are disengaged and 21% are actively disengaged.
- 41% of Professional Services employees are engaged, 39% are disengaged and 20% are actively disengaged.
- 44% of Technology employees are engaged, 37% are disengaged and 19% are actively disengaged.
Employee Engagement Data by Tenure
- 60% of employees at up to three months of tenure are engaged, 32% are disengaged and 8% are actively disengaged.
- 48% of employees between three and 12 months of tenure are engaged, 37% are disengaged and 15% are actively disengaged.
- 40% of employees between 12 months to two years of tenure are engaged, 39% are disengaged and 21% are actively disengaged.
- 37% of employees between two to five years of tenure are engaged, 40% are disengaged and 23% are actively disengaged.
- 41% of employees between five to ten years of tenure are engaged, 37% are disengaged and 22% are actively disengaged.
- 39% of employees at 10 to 15 years of tenure are engaged, 38% are disengaged and 23% are actively disengaged.
- 39% of employees over 15 years of tenure are engaged, 38% are disengaged and 23% are actively disengaged.
Employee Engagement Data by Seniority
Employee Engagement Data by Continent
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