A Gallup study released last week on the State of the American Workplace reported that 70% of American workers are disengaged in their jobs. An extraordinary number of these people convey that they hate going to work for their employers. Here we are, ostensibly emerging at long last from The Great Recession, and yet, this is how a frightening majority of employed individuals are reported to feel.

Sound impossible?

Try it on yourself.

Here is the twelve question survey Gallup used to measure employee engagement, from Page 19 of the published report:

1) I know what is expected of me at work.

2) I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right.

3) At work, I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day.

4) In the last seven days, I have received recognition or praise for doing good work.

5) My supervisor, or someone at work, seems to care about me as a person.

6) There is someone at work who encourages my development.

7) At work, my opinions seem to count.

8) The mission or purpose of my company makes me feel my job is important.

9) My associates or fellow employees are committed to doing quality work.

10) I have a best friend at work.

11) In the last six months, someone at work has talked to me about my progress.

12) This last year, I have had opportunities at work to learn and grow.

I will be writing a good deal more about my thoughts on this in the coming weeks. In fact, as mentioned often here I have written a novel on this theme that will be published this fall (October 2013) by The Story Plant. Before I offer some of my opinions on the topic in a subsequent post, I wanted you to have the opportunity to ask yourselves the Gallup poll questions. Be honest, internalize the answers over some quiet time, think about your own sense of employee morale, then draw your own conclusions.

Are you in the 70%? I sure hope not. If you are disengaged, try to boil it down to the essence of what is eating at you. I’m guessing you already know.

Wow, 70%. Imagine how much creativity, passion, energy, and enthusiasm is waiting to be unleashed in all that humanity. Now there’s a problem that’s worth solving. And you know what, it is completely solvable, if that becomes a shared value.

What’s the solution?

Start with the questions.