Sometimes it feels like the world is on fire—even, if not especially, at work, according to a new report which found that a toxic “triple threat” of pessimism, uncertainty, and disconnect in the workplace is reaching critical levels.
The report analyzes findings from 5,477 employees across various industries in order to provide actionable insights for building empathetic leadership, developing individual resilience skills, and leveraging “organizational citizenship behaviors to protect both well-being and business outcomes in this challenging landscape.”
According to the findings, 67% of employees say they feel worse when thinking about the state of the country, 35% feel worse about their work situation, and 49% feel worse about their finances—with a majority, 52%, expecting the state of our country to worsen. Meanwhile, 27% expect their finances to get worse, while 24% expect their work situation to decline.
Add uncertainty to the mix, and it more than triples the rate at which employees have a pessimistic view of work.
Burnout, in turn, is part of the third problematic element—disconnect—that drains employees’ mental and emotional energy. Also a part of that is a sense of broken trust when companies or leaders fail to meet expectations, which leads to weakened working relationships. More than half of employees (55%) showed at least one symptom of disconnect—particularly younger employees (18–29), 62% of which say they are affected by disconnect. The most severely affected reported a 66% impairment in productivity.
“Uncertainty-related stress isn’t going away—it’s the new normal in the workplace,” said Smith. “What’s alarming is how it’s eroding employee confidence and dragging down performance and engagement without many even noticing.”
In addition to being more disconnected, Gen Z appears to be most pessimistic, despite pessimism remaining consistent across most demographic groups. The current state of pessimism for that group is significantly higher than for others across all measured categories:
Interestingly, when it comes to what’s still to come, Gen Z has hope, demonstrating consistently lower levels of pessimism about what the future holds.
The report calls out two “critical protective factors” that can fight back against the triple threat:
Bottom line: To reverse the pessimism-uncertainty-disconnect threat, leaders should prioritize developing empathetic leadership at all levels, provide support for resiliency, and encourage peer support to strengthen company cultures.
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