Most employees want to be fully engaged at work, and set high standards for themselves — “countering the stereotype of cynical, cubicle-bound Dilberts who want to do as little as possible,” according to a study released Monday.

A survey of almost 90,000 workers worldwide, including 5,000 Canadians, found that 84 per cent enjoy challenging work, 83 per cent look for opportunities to develop new skills and 58 per cent “tend to invest time and effort beyond what is required,” Towers Perrin said in its 2007 global work force study.

However, the majority also feel they are not getting the organizational support they need to perform to full potential, the management consulting firm said.

“Employees want to invest more of themselves to help their employers, but employers don't understand their employee base well enough to create a work experience and culture that will elicit full engagement . . . Employers need to understand their employees as well as they understand their customers,” Towers Perrin said.

The survey found that only 6 per cent of Canadians believe senior management “treats employees as if they are the most important part of the organization,” and only 23 per cent describe themselves as being fully engaged at work, the firm reported.

“Of serious concern to managers and investors, [is the finding that] 32 per cent of Canadian employees are partly to fully disengaged,” the survey found.

Engaged employees are far less likely to quit than their disenchanted colleagues, and the discretionary effort they expend also contributes to better financial performance, said Kevin Aselstine, managing principal at Towers Perrin in Toronto.

“It's impossible to overstate the importance of an engaged work force on a company's bottom line,” Mr. Aselstine said in releasing the survey results.

“We analyzed financial results versus engagement levels at 40 global companies. We found that firms with the highest percentage of engaged employees collectively increased operating income 19 per cent and earnings per share 28 per cent year-to-year,” Mr. Aselstine said.

“By contrast, the companies with the lowest percentage of engaged employees showed year-to-year declines of 33 per cent in operating income and 11 per cent in earnings per share.”

Towers Perrin said the No. 1 driver of engagement worldwide is a belief that senior management “is sincerely interested in employee well-being.”

However, only 38 per cent of those polled said that was the case at their organizations.

“Senior leaders get low marks in particular on communication and transparency,” Towers Perrin said in its report.

“Only 38 per cent feel senior management communicates openly and honestly and only 44 per cent agree senior management tries to be visible and accessible,” the firm reported.

Rather than feeling that employees are regarded as their organizations' most important assets, “more than 50 per cent feel that senior management ‘treats us as just another part of the organization to be managed,' or as if we don't matter.”

The survey's findings indicate that senior managers have it within their power to drive engagement up by getting a better handle on the support their employees need and want, the firm said.