A new survey finds that only 34% of the world’s workers feel they are “thriving.” report According to a survey by workplace analytics company Gallup, the percentage of workers under 35 who say they are thriving will fall to 31% by 2023, down one percentage point from the previous year. But younger workers have the lowest rates of thriving employees and also experience the biggest decline in morale: About 20% of employees surveyed globally said they feel lonely, compared with 22% of workers under 35.
“The reality is that people are more likely to be successful in their jobs than those who are not,” said Jim Harter, Gallup’s chief scientist for workplace and well-being. luck The decline in mental health among young workers has been attributed to the psychological impact of the various economic downturns and the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2020 lockdowns have also led to social isolation during the formative years of their lives, and obsessive technology habits may push people further into chronic loneliness.
“I think people are more distant than they’ve ever been,” Harter said. “When you’re physically distant, you’re also emotionally distant, and that’s what’s happening to younger workers.”
Yet managers often miss the mark when coaching their youngest employees or label them as difficult to work with. But when managers don’t understand Gen Z and Millennial employees or take the time to learn their behavioral patterns, the workplace culture inevitably becomes toxic and detrimental to the mental health of younger employees.
“They come to work wanting to build their identity, to be inspired, to make a difference, but they have a terrible boss who is constantly criticizing them or, even worse, ignoring them,” he says. “This leads to what we call ‘assertive apathy.’ These people have the worst health outcomes. We know that aggressively apathetic people are more likely to develop new-onset depression.”
Left unchecked, employee mental health issues can explode and become a major problem in the workplace, resulting in millions of people dropping out of the workforce, increasing turnover rates, and contributing to widespread burnout.
Harter says the best way to boost happiness in younger workers is to ensure that managers are good leaders – bosses who meet one-on-one with their employees weekly, provide meaningful feedback, listen and create collaborative ways to engage their teams.
“Part of doing the job right is also about reducing pain – weed out the bad managers and, over time, increase the number of good ones so employees look forward to work,” he says. “People feel less lonely when they feel like someone cares about them at work and that they can do what they do best. So pay attention to practices that not only inspire your employees, but also increase productivity, retention, and customer outcomes.”
