Work stress at historic high: Gallup

Posted June 14, 2023

Worker stress reached a historic high in 2022, hitting productivity and performance, according to research from Gallup released Tuesday. The U.S. and Canada — tied with East Asia — had the highest levels in the world. About 31% of respondents in the U.S. and Canada said they were engaged at work, or finding it meaningful, while 52% were “not engaged,” putting in the minimum effort required, and 17% were “actively disengaged,” undercutting their employers’ goals.

Worker engagement, or trust in employers, played a much stronger role than work location (such as hybrid, remote or in-office) on stress levels.
Even though engagement has climbed from previous years, low engagement is costing the global economy $8.8 trillion, or 9% of GDP.
Over half of employees globally said they were watching for or actively seeking a new job.

The 2023 State of the Global Workforce Report from Gallup is out.

-Fifty-one percent of currently employed workers said they are watching for or actively seeking a new job.
-Engagement has 3.8 times as much influence on employee stress as work location.
-The U.S. and Canada lead the world in employees reporting daily feelings of stress. Only a third of workers in this region are “engaged” with work. Over a quarter of people who have left jobs say it’s down to wellbeing and work-life balance.

Thoughts

-It would be interesting to see a cross-cultural comparison of peoples’ perceptions of the terms “stress”, “anger”, and “engagement.” I suspect in many places these terms are highly loaded. For example, some British workers might be hesitant to ascribe such a visceral descriptor as “anger” to their feelings about work, whereas many Americans have been known to wear the idea of being “stressed at work” as a badge of honour.
-The report looks globally and includes people from all types of work; it’s not limited to the desked workforce, as too many reports are. However, I’d like to see Gallup include inter-category comparisons between the desked and the deskless workforce. 1) How does an IT manager in Toronto define stress, compared to a port worker in Singapore, or a nurse in Harare? Does an attorney in Sydney saying “We need better company benefits” hold the same weight as it would coming from a meat-packing employee in Cleveland, or a janitor in Krakow?

While this report definitely needs it, I’m also looking across the greater usage/awareness of the term “workforce.” I am left hoping for a bit more candour about the blatant discrepancies and inequities from sector to sector and region to region, as well as the often-problematic cultural norms that inform how much people work, and to what extent they define themselves by their jobs.

https://lnkd.in/es9UFpDu

#work #workforce #globalworkforce

State of the Global Workplace Report

gallup.com • 1 min read

https://www.gallup.com/workplace/349484/state-of-the-global-workplace.aspx?utm_source=workplace&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=sogw_launch_email_1_june_06132023&utm_term=report&utm_content=download_report_cta_1&thank-you-report-form=1

🌍📊 Annual ‘State of the Workplace’ report by Gallup is here. Let me cover it for you.

🚀🎯 It’s heartening to see that employee engagement reached a record high. 23% of workers reported finding their work meaningful and feeling a strong connection to their team, manager, and employer. There’s a big BUT. Europe lags behind with only 13% of engaged employees…

👥💼 Significant rise of the “quiet quitters.” These are employees who, while physically present, have psychologically disengaged from their work. They’re at their desks or logged into their computers, but their hearts and minds are elsewhere. Alarmingly, nearly 6 in 10 employees fall into this category. This disengagement comes at a high cost: $8.8 trillion, or 9% of global GDP.

💡🌟 44% of employees reported high levels of stress in daily lives. This is the second year that worker stress has reached record levels. Not particulary suprising taking into account that in just last 3 years we experienced: global pandemic, full war in Ukraine, inflation crisis, recession, energy crisis and the growing fears around the AI revolution.

🔍🚀 More than every second employee is seeking for new job (56% in Europe). What are they looking for in their next job? Increased pay, improved wellbeing, and opportunities for growth and development top the list.

🏢🔬 Gallup’s analysis finds that engagement has 3.8x as much influence on employee stress than work mode. The debate over remote vs. on-site may be missing the point. Relationships with the team, well-being, and the sense of purpose – these are the factors that truly impact how people engage with their jobs.

🛠️🎯 When asked what they would change at their current employer to make it a great place to work, 85% of respondents’ answers fell into three categories: engagement or culture, pay and benefits, and wellbeing.

🌈🌟 All these findings underscore the importance of fostering a positive workplace culture, offering competitive pay and benefits, and prioritizing employee wellbeing. As leaders, we have the opportunity – and the responsibility – to take these insights to heart.

💡🌟 BTW: on Monday, I will be conducting a Mindgram Poland webinar for the tech/IT industry. We will address the current challenges of this industry in an HR context: including ChatGPT, inflation situation, wage pressure, burnout among developers, etc. We will show how a well-being platform can improve company productivity. We will also show the importance of data-driven care and psychometric diagnostics of burnout, risk of depression or anxiety. You can register here: https://lnkd.in/dRKQ4YbR

🔗🔗 And for more insights from the Gallup report, check out the full report here: https://lnkd.in/dXhxRZcN

#Leadership #HR #Wellbeing #MentalHealth #Mindgram