New report shows employee stress levels are escalating to an all-time high

Employees are feeling more stressed than ever, with working women in the U.S and Canada being the most stressed employees globally.

This is according to a new global workplace report by Gallup, which shows that employee stress has climbed to an all-time high, while global engagement and wellbeing trends remain stable but low.

Low employee engagement costs the global economy $7.8 trillion, equal to 11% global GDP. Prior to the pandemic, levels of engagement and wellbeing had been on the rise for almost a decade, but this trend has stagnated.  

In 2022, only 21% of employees feel engaged at work, and only 33% report as ‘thriving in their overall wellbeing’. Waves of Covid infections saw wellbeing in Europe and South Asia fall by five percentage points in 2021.

The relationship between wellbeing and engagement is plain, as healthy work environments in which employees thrive correspond to lower reported levels of stress, anger, and health issues.

The report shows the urgency with which organisations need to prioritise employee wellbeing as part of their employer brand promise.