Pour one out for the stress balls and tchotchkes working overtime these days. Stress for the American workforce remains at record highs, finds analytics company Gallup in its most recent State of the Global Workplace report—44% of 122,000 employees surveyed say they feel “a lot of” stress. In 2019, that level sat at 38%, but over 40% of workers have consistently been stressed ever since the pandemic hit.
This past May, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 was no longer a national emergency. Even as the pandemic ebbed (and flowed) since the early days of lockdown, there’s still a pervasive level of exhaustion as we discover its lingering side effects, continue to manage a public health issue, and deal with the aftermath of an event that challenged how we view society. Work has not remained unscathed, as the pandemic brought into question the purpose of a 9-to-5 and gave rise to a greater existentialism and feeling of malaise. It’s hard to feel checked into a job and engaged when you're largely unhappy.
