Work engagement is a positive, energetic state in which you work with a lot of vigor, dedication and concentration. Engaged people are bursting with energy, find their work meaningful and are so absorbed in it that time seems to fly. It is exactly that enthusiasm that organisations run on: research shows again and again that engaged employees feel healthier, show more initiative and perform better than less engaged colleagues.
Success through enthusiasm
Engaged employees work with more energy and are more goal-oriented. Something organisations can make good use of in these times, now that good people are scarce and more often has to be done with fewer people.
Engaged people are vital and steer their own careers with confidence. They create a lot of value for their employer, but also for themselves: they actively look for new challenges, use their positive attitude to look after their own sources of energy and dare to take the next step towards their goal.
Does this mean that every success of an organisation can be traced back to the enthusiasm of its employees? You can't say that so firmly. Success always has several causes, such as the market, the strategy and the product. What research does consistently show is that work engagement goes together with better performance. Engaged employees have a more positive attitude to work, feel mentally and physically healthier and perform better at work (UWES manual).
The theory of work engagement
Energy is at the root of everything we achieve. Without energy there is no movement, no work and no result. To get things done, you have to tap into energy, preferably a great deal of it, and take action. That is what the theory of work engagement is about.
The best-known description comes from Dutch professors Wilmar Schaufeli and Arnold Bakker. They define work engagement as:
"A positive, fulfilling, work-related state of mind that is characterized by vigor, dedication, and absorption."
In Dutch it is called bevlogenheid, with the three characteristics vitaliteit, toewijding and absorptie (Schaufeli).
So work engagement is more than a good mood on a Monday morning. It is the feeling that you are doing exactly the things your talents and interests lie in, and that you can make the best use of your personal and work-related sources of energy. Who doesn't want to be engaged? And which manager doesn't want engaged employees? In difficult times, work engagement gives extra resilience to cope with stressful situations, and that is precisely when engaged people prove to be worth their weight in gold.
Fulfilment: the three characteristics
Vigor, dedication and absorption. Three concepts whose meaning may not be immediately clear:
- Vigor refers to bursting with energy, feeling strong and fit, being able to keep working for long periods without tiring, and having mental resilience and perseverance.
- Dedication is about being strongly involved in your work. The work feels useful and meaningful, is inspiring and challenging, and evokes pride and enthusiasm.
- Absorption means being pleasantly and completely immersed in your work, so that time seems to stand still and it is hard to detach yourself from it.
Work engagement is not the same as satisfaction
Work engagement is often confused with satisfaction, but they are different things. Satisfaction is a sense of satiation: you are content with how things are going. Work engagement is about activation: an energetic drive that gets you moving. According to Schaufeli, that also explains why work engagement is more strongly related to performance than satisfaction (Schaufeli, What is engagement?). Read more in from satisfied to engaged.
Nor is it the same as workaholism
Working hard is not yet work engagement. Engaged people and workaholics are both active and driven, but for very different reasons. Engaged employees are mainly motivated from within: they work because they enjoy it. Workaholics are mainly driven by external norms and the need for recognition, and feel a compulsive urge to work. According to Schaufeli, work engagement is 'good' and workaholism 'bad', with that very compulsiveness being the most harmful part (Schaufeli, What is engagement?). Read more in the difference between a workaholic and an engaged employee.
In research, work engagement is also seen as the opposite of burnout. Where burnout is about exhaustion and distancing yourself from your work, work engagement is about energy and dedication. See also burnout vs work engagement.
How do you measure work engagement?
The basis for measuring work engagement is the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES). The original questionnaire has 17 statements, divided over vigor, dedication and absorption. There is also a short version with 9 statements, three per characteristic. For each statement, employees indicate how often they have that feeling, for example "At my work, I feel bursting with energy" or "I am immersed in my work" (Schaufeli).
Broader scans also build on the UWES, such as the Employee Engagement Survey, which besides work motivation and engagement also measures how people experience their manager and whether they speak proudly about their work.
How many people are engaged?
Far from everyone fully experiences that joy in work. Gallup uses its own questionnaire to measure worldwide how many employees are engaged in their work. In 2025, that was 20% worldwide, the lowest level since 2020 (Gallup, State of the Global Workplace 2026). In the Netherlands, the average over 2023 to 2025 is 14% (Gallup, Netherlands). Gallup measures something slightly different from the UWES, so the figures are not directly comparable. But the direction is clear: there is still a lot of engagement to be gained. It often drains away because talents go unrecognised or the work structure is rigid.
Work engagement is contagious
Engaged people are open to new ideas, feel physically and mentally healthy, look for their own talents and start each new working day with energy. That is not only nice for them, but also stimulating for their direct colleagues and good for the organisation.
Source: Prof. Dr. Bas Kodden, De kunst van duurzaam presteren (The art of sustainable performance; Boom uitgevers, in Dutch).
