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As the debate continues over whether organisations should be compelling employees to return to the workplace, a recent report from Oyster HR focuses on why employees continue to be disillusioned with work and, more importantly, what employers can do to address this issue.

The aptly named Who gives a Shuck is based on interviews with 2,500 knowledge workers about their own personal and professional priorities at a time when there remains enormous uncertainty over the post-Covid business environment, the cost-of-living crisis, and a moribund economy.

Perhaps the most important finding is that many employees are not living to work anymore, with nealy half of those questioned stating that their number one priority in life was their mental health.

In contrast, career advancement within their organisation was ranked fifth after relationships with friends, physical wellbeing, spirituality, and hobbies.

This shouldn’t be too much of a surprise given that the experience of Covid was a wake-up call to many people who had been working hard with little appreciation from employers. When the world was facing the most serious pandemic in over a century, many people’s priorities changed during this time and the time given to reflect on what was important to them.

This has resulted in high numbers not only re-evaluating their futures but, in many cases, leaving bad employers to do other things as part of the so-called Great Resignation that has swept the labour force of most developed nations.

As employees have begun to move back to their workplaces after the pandemic, it would have expected that some sense of normality would eventually return. However, after the events of 2020 and 2021, the cost-of-living crisis that many have had to face since is leading to further issues in the workplace. In fact, the survey shows most people are finding it hard to focus on work because of the higher prices and inflation affecting their lives.

Dealing with this is critical to both the competitiveness of individual firms and the productivity of the economy as the study suggests that, on average, half of the staff of an organisation are now struggling to get their work done, leading to a ‘quiet quitting’ pandemic where employees are doing the bare minimum in their jobs.