Is engagement asking too much of employees?

The Gallup organisation recently released its annual State of the Global Workforce survey results. The news is mixed. What they call engagement is up slightly to 23%, but that small shift doesn’t offset the massive deficit of those disengaged. 

But what is engagement anyway?

The theory began its march to prominence in a 1990 paper by William Kahn from Boston University, “Psychological Conditions of Personal Engagement and Disengagement at Work”. In it, Kahn defines engagement as the “harnessing of organisation members’ selves to their work roles”, where “people employ and express themselves physically, cognitively, and emotionally during role performances”.

Kahn further observes engagement as a trait fluctuating in particular moments across tasks and situations.