6 surprising facts about work in 2022 (so far)

6 surprising facts about work in 2022 (so far)

2022 is the year everything became normal again, Covid is long gone, the US political landscape is peaceful at last and workers are having the time of their lives…Or is it the other way around, I can’t remember… All jokes aside, what 2022 did teach us a lot more about the future of work, so we’ve decided to compile 6 surprising facts to better understand where the workplace is headed for the few years ahead.?

1. 1 in 4 workers who quit their job in 2022 regret leaving because they miss their old coworkers.

Source: Joblist

We’ve said it so many times already, but we’ll say it again: what drives emotional engagement and company loyalty is first and foremost people, not money. Corporations are now faced with the challenge of building stronger employee experiences that lean on meaningful interpersonal relationships at work if they are to remain competitive.?

2. 40% of workers who quit their job in 2021 say that money was not a deciding factor in their decision.

Source: Peopleready

Don’t get us wrong, money will always play a big role in making a job attractive to workers, but corporations who embrace a more complete perception of what drives individuals will find cheaper and more effective ways of retaining talent than those that do not. For example, Gallup found that trust and belonging at work could reduce turnover by up to 50% - surely this would be a welcomed improvement in many companies today.?

3. Only 28% of pay raises given in 2022? were sufficient to make up for the inflation rate?

Source: joblist

The combination of a looming recession combined with a steadily decreasing buying power will certainly carry its fair share of complications in the workplace. Since corporations will without a doubt (and in fact have already started to) suffer from the weakening economic landscape, expecting them to just “give more money” to employees to curb the rise in the cost of living is wishful thinking at best. The only thing left for corporations to do is to make work more enjoyable, protect their employees' well-being, ensure access to support networks, in short, if you can’t make your employees more wealthy you can at least try to make them “more happy”.?

4. By 2028 73% of teams are expected to count fully remote workers.

Source: Gallup

Wondering what the next big challenge for middle management will be? Everything is pointing towards finding ways of building cohesive teams around a mix of remote and on-site workers. Particularly finding ways of building engagement and nurturing retention for those remote workers.

5. 79% of workers are disengaged at work globally?

Source: Gallup

Yes, nearly 8 out of 10 workers are disengaged at work, in Europe this number is closer to 9 out of 10, this leads to tremendous losses in productivity, greater rates of attrition and poorer mental health, compounding into $7.8 trillion in lost revenue globally (Gallup, 2021). As such, it is clear that nurturing engagement at work will remain a central challenge for the next decade.?

6. 77% of workers are not satisfied with their overall wellbeing globally?

Source: Gallup

A lack of wellbeing directly affects an employee’s productivity, ability to collaborate, innovate, remain healthy and weather crises. Thankfully, more and more companies are warming up to the idea that if they are to remain competitive they will have to start taking initiatives to protect and promote their employees’ wellbeing.

That’s it for our 6 surprising facts about work in 2022, we hope that you enjoyed our list.? Those lists remind us of the problems we set out to solve at MixR. Building communities@work is an approach proven to bolster engagement, retention and wellbeing and the perfect solution to integrate remote workers with on-site workers. For more information, visit www.mixr.net.