U.S. workers who are engaged in their work and workplace are more likely than those who are not engaged to have a healthier lifestyle, a survey indicates.

The Gallup Daily tracking interviews conducted January-December 2012 found engaged employees ate healthier, exercised more frequently and consumed more fruits and vegetables.

The employee engagement index was based on research on actionable workplace elements with proven linkages to performance outcomes, including productivity, customer service, quality, retention, safety and profit. The 12 questions included in the survey were intended to help sort workers into one of three categories -- engaged, not engaged or actively disengaged, Gallup said.

Engaged employees are deeply involved in and enthusiastic about their work. Those not engaged might be satisfied but are not emotionally connected to their workplaces and are less likely to put in discretionary effort. Actively disengaged employees are emotionally disconnected from their work and workplace and jeopardize their teams‘ performance, Gallup said.

Gallup research previously found employee engagement was positively correlated with better health -- engaged workers are less likely to be obese and to have chronic diseases. Gallup said its research showed the way in which leaders manage workers could significantly influence employees’ engagement, which in turn affected a company‘s bottom line and workers’ health and well being.

Since engaged employees are more likely to lead a healthy lifestyle, workplaces that actively improve engagement might end up seeing an added benefit of better employee health -- the potential benefits of which include reducing healthcare costs, increased energy and increased productivity.

The Gallup Daily tracking survey of 353,563 U.S. adults, included 19,392 unemployed, 14,881 actively disengaged, 43,136 not engaged, and 24,611 engaged respondents. It has a margin of error of 2.8 percentage points to 4.9 percentage points. (UPI)


<관련 한글 기사>


'이런 사람'이 업무능력 높아

작년에 시행된 미국의 연구에 따르면 열심히 일하는 직원들의 경우 그렇지 않은 경우보다 건강한 생활습관을 유지하고 있다. 운동을 더 자주하며, 과일과 채소 섭취가 더 많다.

설문조사에는 생산성, 고객 서비스, 안전 등 12가지 질문이 있었으며 설문조사 대상자들은 일에 열심인 사람, 그렇지 않은 사람, 일에 거의 관심이 없는 사람으로 분류되어 조사가 시행되었다. 이는 갤럽(Gallup)이 전했다.

일을 열심히 하지 않는 사람들은 일에 만족할지언정 일과 감정적인 유대를 맺고 있지 않다. 또한 자율적인 노력을 하는 경향이 적다. 일과 거의 감정적 유대를 맺고 있지 않은 사람들은 팀 작업에 나쁜 영향을 끼칠 수 있다.

본 갤럽 조사는 개인의 일에 대한 열정과 태도와 건강한 삶이 밀접한 영향을 주고 받을 수 있다고 밝히고 있다. 회사 경영 측에서는 생각해볼만한 조사결과다. (코리아헤럴드)