Sometimes people feel like the world is on fire, even if not especially at work, it is a new report that finds that the toxic “triple threats” of pessimism, uncertainty and disconnection in the workplace have reached a critical level.
According to the just-issued 2025, this in turn endangers employee well-being and disrupts productivity Labor Report From “Workplace Resilience System”.
“Pessimism in the workforce is a greater threat than just complaining about one’s work around the water cooler, which directly undermines the productivity of the workplace and Mental HealthMEQ Chief Scientific Officer said. Brad Smith In the press release. “We found that pessimistic workers associated with work have a 60% reduction in productivity and a 128% increase in the risk of depression.”
The report analyzes findings from 5477 employees from various industries to provide actionable insights to build understanding leadership, develop individual resilience skills, and leverages “organizing citizenship behavior to protect this challenging environment to protect well-being and business outcomes.”
Pessimism, uncertainty and disconnection issues
According to the survey results, 67% of employees said they felt worse when considering the situation in the country, 35% of them felt worse when they worked, and 49% felt worse when they were financially – with the majority, 52%, expecting the situation in our country to worsen. Meanwhile, 27% expect their financial situation to get worse, while 24% expect their job status to decline.
Increase uncertainty, which is triple the pace of employees’ perception of work.
“The increase in stress associated with uncertainty is not just the effect of feeling – its cost poses the company: Individuals reporting high uncertainty-related stress also show greater productivity barriers, suggesting uncertainty can reduce output by half,” Smith said. “In addition, nearly one-third of employees who have experienced high uncertainty-related stress indicate Burnout. ”
Burnout, in turn, is part of the third problematic factor (disconnect), which exhausts the psychological and emotional energy of the employee. It’s also a broken sense of trust when a company or leader fails to meet expectations, which can lead to a weakening of working relationships. More than half of employees (55%) show at least one disconnection symptom – especially younger employees (18-29), with 62% saying they are affected by disconnection. The most severely affected productivity damage was 66%.
“The pressure associated with uncertainty is not going away – it’s the new normal in the workplace,” Dr. Smith said. “It’s shocking how it erodes employee confidence, delays performance and engagement, not a lot of people have noticed.”
Generation Z is the most pessimistic
Apart from being more disconnected, Generation Z seems to be the most pessimistic, although the pessimism in most population groups remains consistent. The current pessimistic state of this group is significantly higher than that of others in all measurement categories:
- 71% of Gen Zers expressed negative views on the country’s state, while 59% of older employees expressed negative views.
- Gen Z reported being dissatisfied with their financial situation, while 37% of older employees.
- 48% Z-VS vs. 22% of older workers feel pessimistic about their working conditions.
Interestingly, Gen Z has hope, indicating continued pessimism about the future, which is always a low pessimism.
How companies reverse this negative emotions
The report calls for two “critical protective factors” that can oppose triple threats:
- Understandable management: The analysis found that managers who prioritize the well-being of the team have a top-down positive impact, reducing the stress of uncertainty by 37%, and reducing the connection rate from 78% to 40%.
- Personal flexibility: Among the most resilient employees, especially those with emotional control and realistic optimism skills, only 6% of employees showed signs of extreme disconnection, while the lowest resilient 59%.
Bottom line: To reverse pessimism – uncertainty – end threats, leaders should prioritize developing understanding leadership at all levels, provide resilient support and encourage peer support to enhance company culture.
More information about workplace health:
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