That’s the assessment of Dean Robb, Ph.D, who published the article “”Inside-Out” Alignment: Maximum Engagement for Superior Performance” in CEO Refresher (subscription required.)

Robb points to some interesting research by Harris Interactive Inc., which focused on the issue of workplace engagement. Their survey revealed a few key findings:

• Only 20% of workers feel very passionate about their jobs
• Less than 15% feel strongly energized by their work
• Only 31% (strongly or moderately) believe that their employer inspires the best in them.

Other (scary) findings:

• More than 33% of managers do not care about the fate of their organization.
• More than 25% of managers surveyed do not agree that their organizations inspire the best in them, or are unwilling to promote their organization as being a great place to work.

BOTTOMLINE: “This represents a crisis as the accelerating pace of global competition acts to create an entirely new market space that is forcing businesses to elicit maximum workforce performance, creativity and innovation. But sustainable workforce excellence can only happen where very high levels of workplace engagement and commitment are the norm.”