It may be hard to imagine that anything was better during the Covid-19 pandemic that killed more than 1.3 million in the US. Yet, employees’ happiness, satisfaction, and engagement levels were all higher than they are now, multiple studies show. What’s more, employees’ detachment from their roles continues to decline or remain flat even though the US ended its national emergency about two years ago.
Gallup reported last month that US employee engagement in 2024 sunk to 31%—a 10-year low. It was 34% in January 2022, nearly two years into the pandemic. Another Gallup study released last year found a mere 18% of people are extremely satisfied with their jobs, down from 26% in 2021. Meanwhile, BambooHR’s happiness score had been falling for three years, before flattening in Q3 2024, the most recent data available. A December DHR Global study found that over eight in 10 knowledge workers feel some exhaustion.
HR pros aren’t that surprised by employees’ gloom and say multiple factors are responsible for the negativity, including remote and hybrid work, a lack of advancement opportunities, fears of technology replacing jobs, low pay, and the overall economy.
“We’ve never really stopped adjusting since the pandemic. And I think it’s a roller coaster of highs and lows, mostly lows, that is creating that kind of overall malaise,” said Anna Tavis, chair of the Human Capital Management Department at New York University’s School of Professional Studies.
Tavis said this period of discontent is unique from others, such as the Great Recession.
“I think there was always, in whatever phases of work we’ve been going through, it was like a rubber band, [you could] stretch it and drop it, and it comes right back,” Tavis said. “I think the level of uncertainty now is unprecedented.”
Tavis said part of employees’ discontent could stem from a “fear” that AI will replace their jobs. She also believes that hybrid and remote work share the blame, adding that not showing up on-site prevents people from “a sustainable long-term work relationship and productivity overall.”
Jim Harter, Gallup’s chief scientist for workplace management and well-being, believes employers must change how they interact with workers to improve their engagement and satisfaction. He said that poor communication and a lack of “organization” hurt a company’s culture, especially regarding hybrid and remote work.
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“I think [satisfaction] will start to stabilize when organizations start realizing that they’ve got to adjust how they manage people so that they’re in touch with them more often, so they build more predictability into their environment,” Harter said.
Beyond that, employees don’t believe that their employer is invested in them or their development, Gallup research showed. Just 39% of employees strongly believe that someone at work cares about them, down from 47% in March 2020. And the percentage of workers who strongly believed that a colleague or manager was “encouraging their development” dropped to 30% last year from 36% in March 2020.
Furthermore, only 46% of employees know what’s expected of them at work, down from 56% nearly five years ago. Harter claims that “the first and primary thing that needs to be fixed” is for employers to ensure that workers understand their responsibilities and have help in adjusting priorities if necessary, adding that people can’t be as effective without clear expectations.
Other factors affecting employees’ attitudes, such as the economy, are beyond employers’ control.
“Until we start to see some of the economic pressures lifted…we’re still going to see stress in the workplace, because it’s one thing to be stressed out at work and have all the things, but then when you also have economic stressors, paying for your groceries, paying for your rent, that those just exacerbate whatever else could be going on at work,” said Wende A. Smith, head of people operations at BambooHR.
The company’s happiness index hit 36 in the third quarter of last year, up from 35 in the second quarter. Anything above 20 is considered favorable, while anything above 50 is excellent, Smith said. She considered 36 a “good” score but also said the overall economy needed to improve to drive employee happiness higher.
Harter agreed that the economy is taking a toll on employees. He said that while there are jobs available, many aren’t what workers desire, leading them to “put up” with their current situation.
The news isn’t all bad. A Pew Research Center study released last month found that half of employees were very or extremely satisfied with their jobs. However, the percentages were notably lower among people of color, younger people, and low-income individuals.