US Employee Well-Being Hit New Low In 2024, Survey Reveals (phys.org)
- Reference: 0180157773
- News link: https://news.slashdot.org/story/25/11/20/2222218/us-employee-well-being-hit-new-low-in-2024-survey-reveals
- Source link: https://phys.org/news/2025-11-employee-survey-reveals.html
> New [2]research from the Human Capital Development Lab at the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School analyzes the state of the American workforce in 2024 and [3]shows an overall decline in employee well-being compared to years prior . [...] The latest research confirms a decline in general employee well-being since 2020. In 2024, employees reported the lowest well-being scores on record, as opposed to 2020, when employees reported the highest well-being scores.
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> "In some cases, the lower scores represent a reduction in employee flexibility for either flexible hours or remote work," the latest research states. "In other cases, these scores could be related to challenges associated with greater economic shifts related to inflation or productivity needs." In prior years, well-being scores for managers and employees were comparable to one another, and during the pandemic, managers and top leaders often reported lower scores due to the extra burden of that time period. However, one of the most noteworthy shifts the current data shows is a rise in well-being scores for managers and senior leaders, while well-being for employees and individual contributors decreased in 2024.
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> Rick Smith, director of the Human Capital Development Lab and author of the study, says that the increase in well-being scores for managers could reflect the return to regular operating conditions since the pandemic, which may be indicative of the distance between leadership and workers. "What we're seeing is a growing gap between how leaders and their teams experience the workplace," said Smith. "Managers may feel a return to normalcy, but that doesn't mean their employees do. Leaders must be cautious not to assume their own well-being reflects the broader workforce at their organization. The data shows a potential disconnect, and that's a signal for action."
[1] https://slashdot.org/~alternative_right
[2] https://hcdlab.carey.jhu.edu/resources/well-being-at-work-report-update-usa-2025/
[3] https://phys.org/news/2025-11-employee-survey-reveals.html
Huh (Score:4, Insightful)
So you're saying that back-to-the-office initiative wasn't popular?
RTO, AI, Layoffs (Score:5, Insightful)
2024 was when employers started implementing return to office across the entire economy. They also started pushing AI everywhere. And, they continued layoffs that started in 2023. Of course this made employees worse off.
Re: (Score:2)
"And, they continued layoffs they started"
FTFY. Layoffs have been for how long, and where? For centuries, and everywhere.
Sit on us... (Score:2)
...for we are poor.
How cute. (Score:2)
It's adorable how they pretend that the 'well being' gap between the people who matter and the ones who don't is some sort of surprise that calls for urgent action; rather than a deliberate outcome carefully achieved.
It's the pandemic-period numbers that are the anomaly, from a period when at times downright existential issues forced people's hands(at least for white collar workers; if you are 'essential' good luck and back to dealing with the public in person); and a lot of work has been put into rectif
I've done it all wrong (Score:4, Funny)
I spend all my time grinding and doing actual work, when what I obviously ought to be doing is applying for grants so I can research the blindingly obvious.
Re: (Score:1)
If it was obvious, please guess without looking at the paper which of the years 5 past years had the highest and the lowest well-being at work; and which managerial levels had the lowest and highest well being in years 2022 and 2024. Or which year the level of satisfaction of older and younger suddenly swapped, and by how much they differed in 2021 and in 2024.