Whether employees are stressed because of work, or their stress is carrying over into work, one thing is clear from the new edition of the State of the Global Workplace report: the world’s employees are feeling even more stressed than they did in 2020 (the previous all-time high). While almost half of the world’s workers felt the burden of stress, working women in the U.S. and Canada region were among the most stressed employees globally.

The study heard from an average of 1,000 people in 160 countries and found that 60% of respondents feel emotionally disconnected from their jobs, 44% consider themselves stressed, while 19% describe their time in the office as “extremely unhappy”.

The reflections of the lack of engagement of professionals have a direct impact on the economies of countries, according to Gallup’s analysis. The decline in productivity, talent retention, and company profitability costs the world economy US$ 7.8 trillion a year, or the equivalent of 11% of global GDP, says the company.

The pandemic, long working hours, and bad experiences in the corporate environment are pointed out as the main reasons for the scenario pointed out by the report, with data collected between 2021 and March 2022. For the researchers, the results indicate that employers should rethink their teams’ wellness actions, especially after the health crisis exposed more physical and emotional vulnerabilities.

“Business units with engaged workers have 23% higher profit compared with business units with miserable workers. Additionally, teams with thriving workers see significantly lower absenteeism, turnover and accidents; they also see higher customer loyalty. The point is: Well-being at work isn’t at odds with anyone’s agenda. Executives everywhere should want the world’s workers to thrive. And helping the world’s workers thrive starts with listening to them.”, said Jon Clifton, Gallup’s CEO.

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Source: Gallup 2022