Over the last few decades, there has been recognized the importance of employee work engagement in organizations. For the success of the organization in today's competitive market, it is crucial to have work engaged employees who with their high level of vigor, dedication and absorption perform everyday work tasks. One of the relevant factors for developing those employees in organizations are characteristics of their managers. The aim of this research was to examine the relationship of sociodemographic (gender, age, education) and psychological characteristics of managers (intelligence, personality traits and transformational leadership) with the work engagement of employees. In addition, we examined the mediating role of transformational leadership on the relationship between the personality traits of managers and the work engagement of their employees. The survey included 137 managers and 273 their employees. Every manager had one to four selfratings of their employees. The data were collected online across Croatia. Research findings demonstrated that the sociodemographic characteristics and intelligence of managers were not related to the work engagement of employees. However, it seems that managers who found themselves more agreeable, proved to have more work engaged employees. Furthermore, the agreeableness of managers is associated with the facets of dedication and absorption, and the transformational leadership style with the facets of vigor and dedication of their employees. The implemented mediation model did not explain the role of transformational leadership in the relationship between the managers personality traits and the work engagement of their employees. The paper explains the methodological limitations, recommendations and practical implications.