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The Bupa Health Insights series brings you the latest healthcare trends, interviews with medical experts and specialist insight from Bupa: all designed to keep you and your organisation one step ahead.
For the latest insights on supporting health in the workplace, take a look here.
Quiet quitting, defined as doing the minimum your job requires to prioritise life outside work, was one of the Collins’ Dictionary top ten words and phrases of 2022.
After being coined it was attributed to younger workers and has been described as rejecting the idea of going above and beyond contractual requirements.
Whether it actually exists, or is a new development or not, employers are being warned focussing on the term may distract them from more fundamental challenges in their workforce.
Research from Gallup aligns this scenario with less engaged employees and it found globally only one in five (21%) employees were engaged at work with the figure for under-35s dropping by six percentage points in three years.
The picture was even more pronounced in the UK where only 9% of employees were engaged, a two-point fall from pre-pandemic levels.
Tied to employee wellbeing
Factors aligning with quiet quitting or disengagement often relate to employee wellbeing.
The latest Bupa Wellbeing Index confirms younger staff are more likely to be struggling with their emotional wellbeing.
Only 14% of 16 to 24-year-olds report very good mental health, compared to 38% of over-65s reporting very good mental health.
Two in five (37%) Gen Zs have rejected a job or assignment because it did not align with their personal ethics.
Furthermore, 46% of Gen Zs and millennials in senior positions rejected a job or assignment too due to personal ethics.
Dr Arun Thiyagarajan, General Manager of Bupa Health Clinics argued young British adults have had difficult career paths so far which may play a significant role in their mindset.
“They have come through an education system the World Health Organization ranked the third most stressful in a survey of 45 countries across Europe and Canada,” he said.
“Many have had to navigate unpaid internships, careers started during lockdown and an increasingly ‘on-call’ approach to work.”
He added: “Tackling issues around engagement and supporting Gen Z and millennial employees will be essential if organisations are to survive and thrive.”
For tips and resources on how to improve employee engagement, take a look at the full article here.
This article has been abbreviated by Health & Protection.
