Work engagement: what the Utrecht scale measures and how it differs from workaholism

Some mornings you open the laptop and the first hour is gone before you notice. In other weeks every task feels like pushing a car uphill. Work psychologists call the first state engagement, and since the early 2000s most studies have measured it with one questionnaire from Utrecht.

Three parts of engagement

In 2002 Wilmar Schaufeli, Marisa Salanova, Vicente González-Romá and Arnold Bakker described work engagement as a positive, fulfilling state of mind at work with three parts. Vigor is energy and the willingness to keep going when the work gets hard. Dedication is a sense that the work matters, together with enthusiasm and pride. Absorption is being so focused that time passes quickly and it is hard to stop.

Their Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES) first had 17 items. In 2006 Schaufeli, Bakker and Salanova published a short version with nine, three for each part.

What our test asks

Our work engagement test (UWES) has nine statements, three for each part, and gives you a separate score for vigor, dedication and absorption. The statements come from the UWES. Our set mixes items from the nine-item and the 17-item versions, and a few are slightly reworded. Examples: "At my work, I feel bursting with energy" (vigor), "I am enthusiastic about my job" (dedication) and "Time flies when I'm working" (absorption).

You answer how often each statement is true for you, from Never to Nearly always. The original uses seven frequency labels, from never to every day, and we use five, so your numbers will not line up exactly with published norms. None of the items is scored in reverse, so a higher score always means more engagement.

Where engagement comes from

The researchers first described engagement as the positive opposite of burnout. In 2004 Schaufeli and Bakker found that the two are negatively related but are best measured as separate things. A person can have little burnout and still feel little engagement.

In 2007 Bakker and Evangelia Demerouti summarised the job demands-resources model. In it, demands such as workload and time pressure mainly drive exhaustion, while resources such as autonomy, support from colleagues and useful feedback mainly drive engagement. In practice a low score says as much about your job as about you. If your vigor is low and your dedication is still high, the work may matter to you while the conditions drain you.

When absorption is a warning sign

High absorption on its own does not always mean things are going well. In 2008 Schaufeli, Toon Taris and Willem van Rhenen compared engagement with workaholism. Both engaged employees and workaholics worked hard. The engaged ones did it because they enjoyed the work. Workaholics did it out of an inner compulsion and found it hard to stop thinking about work. Workaholism went with worse wellbeing, engagement with better.

So look at the pattern of your three scores. High absorption together with high vigor and dedication usually fits enjoyment. High absorption with low vigor, and a sense that you cannot stop even when you want to, deserves a second look.

If your vigor score is low, the burnout test and the post on the three dimensions of burnout can show whether exhaustion is part of the picture. If absorption worries you, try the workaholism test.