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Australia and New Zealand
1,971 respondents who work for an employer were interviewed
Employee Engagement
As in Canada and the U.S., one-fourth of employees in Australia and New Zealand are in the professional workers category. Average engagement scores among employees in Australia and New Zealand are relatively high, with about one engaged employee for every actively disengaged employee. Employees in these countries score significantly above the global mean on the most basic workplace item: "I know what is expected of me at work." However, they fall significantly below the global mean on the item "I have a best friend at work."
Employee Engagement/Life Evaluations
Overall, in Australia and New Zealand, employees’ life evaluations are among the highest in the world, with 51% in the thriving category. As in most country groups, however, differences by employee engagement level are striking -- two-thirds (66%) of engaged employees are thriving versus about one-third (35%) of actively disengaged employees.
Employee Engagement/Wellbeing Indicators
Gallup did not ask questions about employees’ emotional states in this region. However, about one-third (32%) of actively disengaged employees say they had three or more sick days in the past month versus about one-fifth (19%) of engaged employees.
Central/Eastern Europe
5,184 respondents who work for an employee were interviewed
Employed sample represents 34% of all adults interviewed
Countries included: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Turkey
Employee Engagement
Compared with their neighbors to the west, Central and Eastern European countries have a greater share of manufacturing workers and a lower proportion of office/clerical workers. They also have lower average employee engagement scores, with three actively disengaged employees for every one engaged employee. Mean scores for the 12 individual items reveal that the region’s employees score farthest below the global mean on "In the last six months, someone at work has talked to me about my progress."
Employee Engagement/Life Evaluations
Overall, life evaluations in these countries are relatively low -- 21% of employed respondents overall are classified as thriving, compared with 50% in Europe’s more economically developed nations. Nonetheless, evaluative wellbeing in this region is strongly related to employees’ engagement level; 36% of engaged employees are thriving versus 15% of those who are actively disengaged.
Employee Engagement/Wellbeing Indicators
The proportion of engaged workers in Europe’s developing or transitional countries who have had three or more sick days in the past month is 12%, but among actively disengaged workers, that figure rises to 21%.
China (includes Hong Kong)
1,333 respondents who work for an employer were interviewed
Employed sample represents 27% of all adults interviewed
Employee Engagement
Two percent of Chinese employees are engaged in their jobs, while almost one-third (31%) are actively disengaged, implying that despite the country’s remarkable growth in recent decades, many of its workplaces are not as productive as they could be. Levels of employee engagement in Hong Kong are nearly identical to those in mainland China.
Chinese employees score below global mean scores on two items that are among the most basic workplace factors: knowing what is expected of them at work and feeling they have the opportunity to do what they do best every day at work. They also give ratings well below the global average on "The mission or purpose of my organization makes me feel my job is important."
Employee Engagement/Life Evaluations
Among Chinese employees overall, a relatively low 13% evaluate their lives highly enough to be classified as thriving. Among engaged employees, however, that proportion rises to 24%.
Employee Engagement/Wellbeing Indicators
Though engaged employees are no less likely than those who are actively disengaged to have experienced enjoyment the previous day, they are significantly less likely to have experienced anger. Among employees who are engaged at work, virtually none had three or more sick days in the past month, versus 8% of actively disengaged employees.
Commonwealth of Independent States, Georgia, and Mongolia
4,389 respondents who work for an employer were interviewed
Employed sample represents 31% of all adults interviewed
Countries included: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Mongolia, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan (Georgia and Mongolia were included because of their proximity to other countries in the group)
Employee Engagement
The former Soviet republics now associated with the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and neighboring countries Georgia and Mongolia form this country group. Employees in this group post one of least favorable engagement ratios of any global region, with more than four actively disengaged employees for every engaged employee. Results for individual items indicate that these workers are significantly below the global mean in their likelihood to say they have opportunities at work to learn and grow and to say someone at work has talked to them about their progress.
Employee Engagement/Life Evaluations
The evaluative wellbeing results for this country group are similar to those for the total worldwide sample, with engaged employees about three times as likely as those who are actively disengaged to give life ratings high enough to classify them as thriving.
Employee Engagement/Wellbeing Indicators
In all three engagement categories, employees’ likelihood to say they experienced anger the previous day is low compared with global results. Conversely, employees in this country group are more likely than those in any other to say they have had three or more sick days in the past month. Among actively disengaged workers in this group, this figure reaches 39%.
India
677 respondents who work for an employer were interviewed
Employed sample represents 22% of all adults interviewed
Employee Engagement
A relatively large share of Indian employees indicated that they work in agriculture-related jobs, despite the country’s strong growth in recent years. India’s employee engagement ratio is very low by global standards, with employees more than four times as likely to be actively disengaged as they are to be engaged at work.
Employee Engagement/Life Evaluations
Almost half of India’s actively disengaged workers (47%) give overall life evaluations so low they are classified as suffering. By contrast, 11% of engaged and 10% of not engaged employees are suffering.
Employee Engagement/Wellbeing Indicators
Forty-four percent of actively disengaged employees say they experienced anger the previous day -- about three times the percentage of engaged employees who respond this way. Actively disengaged employees are also about six times as likely as engaged employees to have had three or more sick days in the past month.
Japan and South Korea
740 respondents who work for an employer were interviewed
Employed sample represents 37% of all adults interviewed
Employee Engagement
As would be expected of populations in industrialized countries, a high proportion of employees in Japan and South Korea are office workers, professionals, or service-sector workers. The ratio of engaged to actively disengaged employees in these two countries is relatively low at 0.29 to 1. Among the 12 engagement items, mean scores for Japan and South Korea fall farthest below the global mean on “I have a best friend at work.” This item’s score is also relatively low in other industrialized regions, including Western Europe, Canada, and the U.S., suggesting a degree of skepticism among employers in industrialized countries that promoting workplace friendships is good for productivity.
Employee Engagement/Life Evaluations
Among employees in Japan and South Korea, there are relatively large differences in life evaluations by engagement level. In particular, 37% of those who are engaged are in the thriving category, versus just 7% of actively disengaged employees.
Employee Engagement/Wellbeing Indicators
This is the only country group in which engaged employees are more likely than those who are actively disengaged to say they have had three or more sick days in the past month. However, the incidence of sick days is low among all engagement groups.
Latin America
4,939 respondents who work for an employer were interviewed
Employed sample represents 27% of all adults interviewed
Countries included: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela
Employee Engagement
Employees in Latin America post the most favorable employee engagement ratio of any global region, with 1.5 engaged employees for every actively disengaged employee. However, Latin American employees tend to give unusually positive responses when asked about other aspects of their lives, possibly reflecting a cultural influence on their response style. Among all 12 engagement items, Latin American employees score farthest above the global means on "This last year, I have had opportunities at work to learn and grow" and "At work, I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day."
Employee Engagement/Life Evaluations
Two-thirds of engaged employees in Latin America (66%) are classified as thriving, according to how they rate their present and future lives. However, that number drops sharply to just over one-third (36%) among actively disengaged employees.
Employee Engagement/Wellbeing Indicators
Regarding experiential wellbeing, there is a particularly strong relationship between employee engagement and anger among Latin American workers. Actively disengaged employees are about three times as likely as engaged employees to say they experienced anger for much of the previous day.
Middle East and North Africa
6,160 respondents who work for an employer were interviewed
Employed sample represents 18% of all adults interviewed
Countries included: Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestinian Territories, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, Yemen
Employee Engagement
Actively disengaged employees in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region outnumber engaged employees by almost two to one. However, this regional ratio is somewhat more favorable than the ratio among all employees interviewed worldwide. In many MENA countries, government employees account for much of the workforce. A relatively large share of public employees in the region have clerical or office worker roles. MENA workers score above the global mean on knowing what is expected of them at work but below the mean on having opportunities at work to learn and grow.
Employee Engagement/Life Evaluations
The link between employee engagement and evaluative wellbeing is not as strong in the MENA region as in most other regions. Nonetheless, engaged workers are about twice as likely as those who are actively disengaged to give life evaluations that put them in the thriving category.
Employee Engagement/Wellbeing Indicators
Engagement among workers in the MENA region shows a particularly strong relationship with some aspects of experiential wellbeing. In particular, 81% of engaged employees say they experienced enjoyment for much of the previous day versus less than half of actively disengaged employees (45%).
Southeast Asia
1,983 respondents who work for an employer were interviewed
Employed sample represents 28% of all adults interviewed
Countries included: Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam
Employee Engagement
The ratio of engaged to actively disengaged employees in Southeast Asia is relatively high at 0.71 to 1. However, a higher-than-average 71% of workers fall into the not engaged category. Employees in this region give ratings significantly above global mean scores on two items that gauge the presence of supportive workplace relationships: 1) “I have a best friend at work” and 2) "There is someone at work who encourages my development."
Employee Engagement/Life Evaluations
Actively disengaged employees in Southeast Asia are four times as likely as engaged employees to give overall life evaluations low enough to place them in the suffering category.
Employee Engagement/Wellbeing Indicators
In this region, results for anger and sick days show little variation by engagement level. However, actively disengaged employees are much less likely than those who are engaged or not engaged to say they experienced enjoyment much of the previous day.
Southern Asia
1,450 respondents who work for an employer were interviewed
Employed sample represents 18% of all adults interviewed
Countries included: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka
Employee Engagement
Among respondents in Southern Asia who work for an employer, a relatively high 20% have jobs in the farming/fishing/forestry category. Employees in the region are just as likely to be engaged as they are to be actively disengaged. While two-thirds of employees fall into the not engaged category, the remaining one-third is evenly split between engaged and actively disengaged. Employees in this region give particularly high ratings relative to global averages on two items: 1) "In the last seven days, I have received recognition or praise for doing good work” and 2) “I have a best friend at work."
Employee Engagement/Life Evaluations
Among engaged employees in Southern Asia, one in five (20%) give life evaluations high enough to classify them as thriving. The relationship between life evaluation and employee engagement is significant, with engaged employees 10 times as likely to be thriving as those who are actively disengaged.
Employee Engagement/Wellbeing Indicators
Engaged employees in Southern Asia are much more likely than those who are actively disengaged to say they experienced enjoyment for much of the previous day.
Sub-Saharan Africa
4,082 respondents who work for an employer were interviewed
Employed sample represents 16% of all adults interviewed
Countries included: Burundi, Cameroon, Chad, Comoros, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Somaliland region, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe
Employee Engagement
In sub-Saharan Africa, fewer than one in five adults surveyed (16%) indicated that they work for an employer, reflecting the large share of the population engaged in subsistence farming and other forms of small-scale self-employment. Among those who do work for an employer, actively disengaged employees significantly outnumber the engaged. However, the ratio of engaged to actively disengaged employees (0.59 to 1) is somewhat more favorable than the overall global ratio of 0.41 to 1.
Employee Engagement/Life Evaluations
One-third of engaged employees in sub-Saharan Africa (33%) give present and future life evaluations high enough to classify them as thriving, according to Gallup’s measure of evaluative wellbeing. The thriving percentage drops to 15% among those who are not engaged and to 12% among actively disengaged employees.
Employee Engagement/Wellbeing Indicators
Sub-Saharan African employees’ likelihood to say they experienced enjoyment for much of the previous day drops steadily with their engagement levels. Actively disengaged employees are more than twice as likely as engaged employees to say they experienced three or more sick days in the past month.
Canada and the United States
10,195 respondents who work for an employer were interviewed
Employee Engagement
Average employee engagement scores in Canada and the U.S. are among the highest in the world. In fact, it is the only region other than Latin America in which engaged employees substantially outnumber those who are actively disengaged. Employees in Canada and the U.S. score significantly above the global mean on the perception that their supervisor cares about them. However, they fall significantly below the global mean on the item "I have a best friend at work." This item also receives below-average ratings in other industrialized regions, including Western Europe, Australia and New Zealand, and Japan and South Korea.
Employee Engagement/Life Evaluations
As in Australia and New Zealand, overall life evaluations among employees in Canada and the U.S. are very high by global standards. About one-third (32%) of actively disengaged employees give life ratings high enough to classify them as thriving, versus almost two-thirds (62%) of engaged employees.
Employee Engagement/Wellbeing Indicators
The links between employee engagement and emotional wellbeing are relatively strong in this region. For example, actively disengaged employees are more than three times as likely as engaged employees to say they experienced anger for much of the previous day.
Western Europe
4,578 respondents who work for an employer were interviewed
Employed sample represents 42% of all adults interviewed
Countries included: Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom
Employee Engagement
Among the 12 Western European countries studied, most workers are employed in office jobs or in the service sector. The ratio of engaged to actively disengaged workers (0.81 to 1) is relatively high by global standards, though it falls well below Canada and the U.S. (1.44 to 1). Among the 12 engagement items, employees in Western Europe score significantly above the global mean on knowing what is expected of them at work, having the materials and equipment they need to do their work right, and believing their fellow associates are committed to doing quality work.
Employee Engagement/Life Evaluations
Majorities of engaged (60%) and not engaged (53%) workers in Western Europe evaluate their present and future lives highly enough to classify them as thriving. However, just one-third (34%) of actively disengaged employees do so.
Employee Engagement/Wellbeing Indicators
Actively disengaged employees in this region are twice as likely as engaged employees to say they experienced anger for much of the previous day. (“Sick days” results are not presented here because the question was not asked in this region.)
The Q12 items are protected by copyright of Gallup, Inc., 1993-1998. All rights reserved.
