Employee well-being in the U.S. continues to fall, with only half of workers reporting they are thriving in their overall lives, Gallup finds.
Fifty percent of employees are thriving, while 45% are struggling, based on Gallup's Life Evaluation Index, which assesses people's perceptions of their present life situation and expectations for the next five years.
This marks a record low since Gallup began tracking this metric in 2009. Thriving rates peaked at 61% in 2016 and 2017, dropped to 55% in 2020, and briefly rebounded to 60% in 2021 as COVID-19 vaccinations became available. However, the rate has continued to decline since then.
"Employee thriving has implications for workplaces and business performance," wrote Ryan Pendell, a senior workplace science editor at Gallup. "Employers who develop a culture of well-being are likely to see benefits across organizational outcomes."
Gallup's findings are based on an analysis of 10,570 full-time workers from a nationally representative study of 21,543 U.S. employees, aged 18 and older, surveyed in August.
Respondents rate their current and future lives on the Cantril Self-Anchoring Striving Scale, commonly known as the Cantril Ladder, with steps numbered from zero to 10. Employees who are thriving rate their current life at 7 or higher and their future life at 8 or higher. Those categorized as struggling provide moderate ratings that fall below the thriving threshold but above the criteria for suffering.
Find the analysis in full here.