The happiness of workers has decreased by 75% since 2019, according to new findings from employee engagement consultancy Inpulse.
The consultancy took data from 192 employee emotion surveys between 2019 and 2021, with 201,619 respondents taking part.
It highlighted that anxiety had shot up by 78% for those who answered surveys exploring mental health. Employee motivation also dropped by nearly a fifth over the past two years, from an average score of 21% to 17% in 2021.
Additionally, Inpulse found that the survey data appeared to show stress levels in the UK are less than in other regions, having increased by 23% compared to a 39% increase for global respondents.
Matt Stephens, founder and CEO of Inpulse, explained that the research reflects the toll Covid-19 (Coronavirus) has had on employee anxiety and stress levels, and how their emotions are having a direct impact on employee connection, focus and loyalty to businesses.
He added that despite the “incredibly high” anxiety levels among workers, negative emotions are still increasing and levels of commitment, motivation and focus are falling.
“Though at first glance the data suggests that UK businesses are currently handling employee stress better than their foreign counterparts, in reality, UK stress levels were already higher than the global average pre-pandemic. In 2019, UK stress levels sat at 22% compared to just 18% for global respondents. Because of this, even with this smaller increase, UK stress levels are still two percentage points higher than global levels in 2021,” Stephens said.
He believes the findings show that businesses are experiencing negative emotions “like never before” and that employers must take care to address the burnout and resilience problems of their workforces by accurately measuring and responding to employee sentiments.
Stephens concluded: “Without a timely response, these problems will detrimentally impact engagement, productivity, absence, and retention.”