A whopping 70 percent of U.S. workers say they are "not engaged" or "actively disengaged" with their work, according to Gallup's recently released annual State of the American Workplace study on employee engagement. That leaves just 30 percent of the workforce who claim their job inspires them enough to engage.

What's worse is Gallup's estimates that those actively disengaged workers cost the country between $450 billion to $550 billion each year in lost productivity. They are more likely to steal from the organization, negatively influence co-workers, call in sick and drive customers away.

In the report, which covers the workplace from 2010-12, Jim Clifton, Gallup chairman and CEO, blamed "bosses from hell" for the lackluster number of engaged workers and those who are actively "miserable and roam the halls spreading discontent."