A recent survey in the U.K. indicated that older workers were more fulfilled and felt more “enabled” than younger workers.  The research, based on a survey of 3,800 people, suggested that people in their thirties expressed the most negative feelings about work.  Of this age group, 58% felt undervalued, 49% felt unfulfilled and 43% said they were de-motivated.

The UK data matches closely with the results from the recently released 2008-9 Employee Hold’em Workforce Engagement National Benchmark:

• 36% of employees 18-34 are Fully Engaged, 32% are Reluctant, while 32% are Unengaged
• 46% of employees 35-54 are Fully Engaged, 24% are Reluctant, while 32% are Unengaged
• 55% of employees 55+ are Fully Engaged, 16% are Reluctant, while 29% are Unengaged

What’s interesting about the results are that in each case, approximately two thirds of employees are planning to stay (add up the Fully Engaged and Reluctant employees).  The biggest difference is a significantly larger number of younger employees are staying because they feel they have to, not because they want to.

The most engaged group?  65-74 year old workers, where an astounding 60% of employees are Fully Engaged. As expected, these employees are significantly more likely to go the extra mile for customers, be highly motivated to work hard, and a whopping 70% of them would stay with their organization even if offered slightly more money to go somewhere else.

See, some things do get better with age…