Spooked by uncertainty? Extraordinary change? You are not alone. Both managers and employees are struggling in the new world of work.
The volatile and challenging workplace and economy is a struggle for most of us.
After surveying over 400,000 employees over the last 5 years, Gallup have identified these 7 trends:
- The shift to remote and hybrid work
In 2019, most remote-capable employees — whose jobs could be done at least partially from home — worked solely on-site (60%)
Today, more than four in five of these employees have some degree of remote flexibility with:
- 55% working hybrid
- 26% exclusively remote
- 19% exclusively on-site
- The decline in employee engagement
After years of improvement, employee engagement took a turn for the worse in 2021. By 2024, the percentage of employees who are engaged at work fell to a 10-year low.
One of the elements that has dropped the most is employees knowing what is expected of them at work. In 2019, 55% of employees fully knew what was expected of them. This number plummeted when the pandemic hit and fell to a new record low in 2024 (44%).
- The wellbeing and mental health crisis
Since 2020, employee life evaluations have declined steadily to a record low in 2024, alongside declines in mental health and increases in daily negative emotions.
Gallup’s Life Evaluation Index shows that in 2019, 60% of employees were thriving, but by 2024, that number dropped to 50%.
Record high levels of negative emotions, like stress and worry, have fuelled declining wellbeing and mental health at work.
- Wellbeing focus isn’t working
Gallup’s March 2024 survey of 151 Chief Human Resource Officers (CHROs) from large companies reveals that wellbeing ranks among the top organizational priorities this year for one in four CHROs (23%).
In early 2024, only 21% of employees strongly agreed that their organization cares about their overall wellbeing, matching a record low. That percentage remains just above that mark today.
One of the most significant factors influencing employee wellbeing is the quality of management. For instance, when employees are engaged at work, they have 42% lower stress than actively disengaged employees.
- More managers want out
As the challenges of leading teams in the new workplace continued to increase, managers became less engaged, more burned out and more likely to quit than the people they manage. In 2024, 55% of managers are actively seeking a new role, vs 45% in 2019.
This is bad news for everyone because managers play a major role in their team’s success.
- Change leadership needs to improve
At the start of Covid, 55% of employees felt their managers communicated the implications of the crisis and how the company would respond. Post covid only 22% feel that their leaders have clearly communicated their plans and priorities going forward.
When organizations clearly communicated these plans, employees were:
- 4.3x more prepared to do their job
- 8.7x more likely to feel confident in their leaders
- 10.2x more likely to be comfortable with the changes taking place
- The decline of respect in the workplace
Workplace civility has declined in recent years. Drops in employee engagement and wellbeing suggest widespread discontent across the workforce, which may contribute to employees feeling disrespected. In 2020, 44% of employees strongly agree that they are treated with respect, but this fell to 37% in 2024.
Remote-capable workers forced back on-site reported the largest decline in feeling respected, dropping from 46% to 35%.
These insights show the constant need to build our personal and team care, safety and resilience. Teams where we have each other’s back, enjoy working together, and care about each other.
How We Can Help:
Graeme Cowan is a team care and resilience conference speaker and author. He is also founding Board Director of R U OK? and host of The Caring CEO podcast.
We help managers embrace that selfcare isn’t selfish and learn to care about each other, have each other’s back and enjoy working together.
