Pessimistic attitudes about nation loom, impacting workplace

With just a year until national Election Day, the attitudes of working Americans seems to be shifting to reflect the upcoming voting season. A recent study by meQuilibrium (meQ) examining workforce wellbeing found 3 out of every 4 of the 4,500 surveyed reported feeling worse when they think about the state of the nation.

“Uncertainty, pessimism and stress still loom large in the workplace,” said Brad Smith, Chief Science Officer of meQ. “It’s essential that employers have access to data that predict risks and identify trends to stay apprised of mounting vulnerabilities within employee populations.”

Employers have faced retention challenges amid an increasingly tight labor market. Nearly a quarter of younger workers are highly likely to switch jobs in the next six months, (compared to 13% of older employees). Understanding the factors behind costly turnover is important in addressing it– namely factors like mental demands, compensation, and opportunity for growth. They were named the top turnover triggers.

Diminished productivity is yet another challenge facing employers. The data sheds light on the many essential factors which drive and diminish productivity. These are to be noted by employers looking to reformat the motivating and demotivating factors of their workplace.

The biggest productivity killers by far were interruptions, events in the news, and non-work responsibilities like eldercare, family, and household chores. On the other side, three clear productivity boosts were noted:

• Autonomy
• Supportive coworkers
• Trusted managers

Resilience is the key to protecting employee wellbeing no matter the hurdle. Resilient employees carry a positive outlook and are less likely to have a pessimistic outlook about their relationships, work situation, financial situation and state of their country.

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Managers can impact the workplace as much, if not more, than employees can. Manager support for mental wellbeing is among the strongest deterrents of employee turnover. Manager support cuts turnover risk in half, on average, by reducing susceptibility to burnout and disconnection between work and life purpose.

“Managers have substantial influence on employee wellbeing,” said Jan Bruce, CEO, and co-founder, meQ. “Proactive efforts to train supportive managers and build resilience could pay dividends in shoring up retention and improving productivity”.