Why Is Everyone So Unhappy at Work Right Now?
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    HOUSE MEDIAN ASKING PRICES AND WEEKLY CHANGE     Sydney $1,753,972 (-0.73%)       Melbourne $1,062,314 (+0.41%)       Brisbane $1,175,991 (+1.10%)       Adelaide $993,595 (-1.57%)       Perth $1,025,778 (+0.53%)       Hobart $809,475 (+2.24%)       Darwin $841,727 (-2.01%)       Canberra $987,577 (+1.04%)       National $1,152,128 (-0.13%)                UNIT MEDIAN ASKING PRICES AND WEEKLY CHANGE     Sydney $797,933 (-0.21%)       Melbourne $527,051 (-0.01%)       Brisbane $752,499 (+0.23%)       Adelaide $552,694 (-3.40%)       Perth $572,300 (-2.12%)       Hobart $536,914 (-0.12%)       Darwin $484,035 (+4.13%)       Canberra $487,742 (+1.66%)       National $610,081 (-0.27%)                HOUSES FOR SALE AND WEEKLY CHANGE     Sydney 11,765 (+531)       Melbourne 14,185 (+548)       Brisbane 7,279 (+100)       Adelaide 2,372 (+146)       Perth 5,324 (+46)       Hobart 850 (+5)       Darwin 146 (-3)       Canberra 1,031 (+78)       National 42,952 (+1,451)                UNITS FOR SALE AND WEEKLY CHANGE     Sydney 9,316 (+179)       Melbourne 6,990 (+3)       Brisbane 1,321 (-6)       Adelaide 365 (+19)       Perth 1,159 (+6)       Hobart 169 (+7)       Darwin 239 (-2)       Canberra 1,148 (+16)       National 20,707 (+222)                HOUSE MEDIAN ASKING RENTS AND WEEKLY CHANGE     Sydney $800 ($0)       Melbourne $580 ($0)       Brisbane $670 ($0)       Adelaide $620 (-$10)       Perth $700 ($0)       Hobart $615 (+$15)       Darwin $780 (+$5)       Canberra $695 (-$5)       National $690 (+$1)                UNIT MEDIAN ASKING RENTS AND WEEKLY CHANGE     Sydney $750 ($0)       Melbourne $590 (-$5)       Brisbane $658 (-$3)       Adelaide $540 (-$5)       Perth $650 ($0)       Hobart $480 (+$8)       Darwin $600 ($0)       Canberra $575 (+$5)       National $615 (-$)                HOUSES FOR RENT AND WEEKLY CHANGE     Sydney 5,429 (+47)       Melbourne 7,717 (+7)       Brisbane 4,044 (+45)       Adelaide 1,536 (+16)       Perth 2,457 (+53)       Hobart 171 (0)       Darwin 83 (+2)       Canberra 417 (-3)       National 21,854 (+167)                UNITS FOR RENT AND WEEKLY CHANGE     Sydney 7,712 (+98)       Melbourne 6,032 (+56)       Brisbane 2,076 (+55)       Adelaide 428 (+21)       Perth 754 (0)       Hobart 73 (+7)       Darwin 160 (+7)       Canberra 654 (-15)       National 17,889 (+229)                HOUSE ANNUAL GROSS YIELDS AND TREND       Sydney 2.37% (↑)        Melbourne 2.84% (↓)       Brisbane 2.96% (↓)       Adelaide 3.24% (↓)       Perth 3.55% (↓)     Hobart 3.95% (↑)      Darwin 4.82% (↑)        Canberra 3.66% (↓)     National 3.12% (↑)             UNIT ANNUAL GROSS YIELDS AND TREND       Sydney 4.89% (↑)        Melbourne 5.82% (↓)       Brisbane 4.54% (↓)     Adelaide 5.08% (↑)      Perth 5.91% (↑)      Hobart 4.65% (↑)        Darwin 6.45% (↓)       Canberra 6.13% (↓)     National 5.24% (↑)             HOUSE RENTAL VACANCY RATES AND TREND       Sydney 2.0% (↑)      Melbourne 1.9% (↑)      Brisbane 1.4% (↑)      Adelaide 1.3% (↑)      Perth 1.2% (↑)      Hobart 1.0% (↑)      Darwin 1.6% (↑)      Canberra 2.7% (↑)      National 1.7% (↑)             UNIT RENTAL VACANCY RATES AND TREND       Sydney 2.4% (↑)      Melbourne 3.8% (↑)      Brisbane 2.0% (↑)      Adelaide 1.1% (↑)      Perth 0.9% (↑)      Hobart 1.4% (↑)      Darwin 2.8% (↑)      Canberra 2.9% (↑)      National 2.2% (↑)             AVERAGE DAYS TO SELL HOUSES AND TREND       Sydney 27.4 (↑)      Melbourne 27.6 (↑)      Brisbane 28.7 (↑)      Adelaide 25.1 (↑)        Perth 33.7 (↓)       Hobart 26.2 (↓)       Darwin 25.3 (↓)       Canberra 25.6 (↓)       National 27.5 (↓)            AVERAGE DAYS TO SELL UNITS AND TREND       Sydney 27.2 (↑)      Melbourne 28.1 (↑)        Brisbane 26.2 (↓)       Adelaide 23.2 (↓)     Perth 35.1 (↑)        Hobart 23.8 (↓)     Darwin 33.4 (↑)        Canberra 36.1 (↓)     National 29.1 (↑)            
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Why Is Everyone So Unhappy at Work Right Now?

U.S. employees are more dissatisfied than they were in the thick of the pandemic

By VANESSA FUHRMANS
Wed, Nov 29, 2023 8:34amGrey Clock 5 min

Americans, by many measures, are unhappier at work than they have been in years.

Despite wage increases, more paid time off and greater control over where they work, the number of U.S. workers who say they are angry, stressed and disengaged is climbing, according to Gallup’s 2023 workplace report. Meanwhile, a BambooHR analysis of data from more than 57,000 workers shows job-satisfaction scores have fallen to their lowest point since early 2020, after a 10% drop this year alone.

In interviews with workers around the country, it is clear the unhappiness is part of a rethinking of work life that began in 2020. The sources of workers’ discontent range from inflation, which is erasing much of recent pay gains, to the still-unsettled nature of the workday. People chafe against being micromanaged back to offices, yet they also find isolating aspects of hybrid and remote work. A cooling job market—especially in white-collar roles—is leaving many professionals feeling stuck.

Companies have largely moved on from pandemic operating mode, cutting costs and renewing a focus on productivity. The disconnect with workers has managers frustrated, and no quick fix seems to be at hand. Those in charge said they have given staff more money, flexibility and support, only to come up short.

The experiences of workers like Lindsey Leesmann suggest how expectations have shifted from just a few years ago. Leesmann, 38 years old, said she soured on a philanthropy job after having to return to the office two days a week earlier this year.

Prepandemic, she would have been happy working three days a week at home. “It would have been a dream come true.” Still, her team’s in-office requirements seemed like going backward, and made her feel that her professionalism and work quality were in doubt. Instead of collaborating more, she and others rarely left their desks, except for meetings or lunch, she said. Negative feelings followed her home on her hourlong commute, leaving her short-tempered with her kids.

“You try to keep work and home separate, but that sort of stuff is just impacting your mental health so much,” said Leesmann, who recently moved to a new job that requires five in-office days a month.

No more honeymoon

The discontent has business leaders struggling for answers, said Stephan Scholl, chief executive of Alight Solutions, a technology company focused on benefits and payroll administration. Many of the Fortune 100 companies on Alight’s client list boosted spending on employee benefits such as mental health, child care and well-being bonuses by 20% over the pandemic years.

“All that extra spend has not translated into happier employees,” Scholl said. In an Alight survey of 2,000 U.S. employees this year, 34% said they often dread starting their workday—an 11-percentage-point rise since 2020. Corporate clients have told him mental-health claims and costs from employee turnover are rising.

One factor is the share of workers who are relatively new to their roles after record levels of job-switching, said Benjamin Granger, chief workplace psychologist at software company Qualtrics. Many employers have focused more on hiring than situating new employees well, leaving many newbies feeling adrift. In other cases, workers discovered shiny-seeming new jobs weren’t a great fit.

The upshot is that the newest workers are among the least satisfied, Qualtrics data show—a reversal of the higher levels of enthusiasm that fresh hires typically voice. In its study of nearly 37,000 workers published last month, people less than six months into a job reported lower levels of engagement, feelings of inclusion and intent to stay than longer-tenured workers. They also scored lower on those metrics than new workers in 2022, suggesting the pay raises that lured many people to new jobs might not be as satisfying as they were a year or two ago.

“What happened to that honeymoon phase?” Granger said.

John Shurr, a 66-year-old former manufacturing engineer, took a job as an inventory manager at a heavy-equipment retailer in the spring in Missoula, Mont., after being laid off during the pandemic.

“It was a nice job title on a pretty rotten job,” said Shurr, who learned soon after starting that his duties would also include sales to walk-in customers.

When Shurr broached the subject, his boss asked him to give it a chance and said he was really needed on the showroom floor. Shurr, who describes himself as more of a computer guy, quit about a month later.

“I feel kind of trapped at the moment,” said Shurr, who has since taken a part-time job as a parts manager as he tries to find full-time work.

Bridging the distance

Long-distance relationships between bosses and staff might also be an issue. Nearly a third of workers at large firms don’t work in the same metro area as their managers, up from about 23% in February 2020, according to data from payroll provider ADP.

Distance has weakened ties among co-workers and heightened conflict, said Moshe Cohen, a mediator and negotiation coach who teaches conflict resolution at Boston University’s Questrom School of Business. He has noticed more employees calling co-workers or bosses toxic or impossible, signs that trust is thin.

Cohen’s corporate clients said their employees are increasingly transactional with one another. Some are coaching workers in the finer points of dialogue, such as saying hello first before jumping into the substance of a conversation.

“The idea of slowing down, taking the time, being genuine, trying to actually establish some sort of connection with the other person—that’s really missing,” Cohen said.

One Los Angeles-based consultant in his 20s, who asked to remain anonymous because he is seeking another job, said that when he started his job at a large company last year, his largely remote colleagues were focused on their own work, unwilling to show a new hire the ropes or invite him for coffee. Many leave cameras off for video calls and few people show up at the office, making it hard to build relationships.

“There’s zero humanity,” he said, noting that he is seeking another job with a strong office culture.

The share of U.S. companies mandating office attendance five days a week has fallen this year—to 38% in October from 49% at the start of the year—according to Scoop Technologies, a software firm that developed an index to monitor workplace policies of nearly 4,500 companies.

Some companies have reversed flexible remote-work policies—in large part, they said, to boost employee engagement and productivity—only to face worker backlash.

Not all the data point downward. A Conference Board survey in November 2022 of U.S. adults showed workers were more satisfied with their jobs than they had been in years. Key contingents among the happiest employees: people who voluntarily switched roles during the pandemic and those working a mix of in-person and remote days. But that poll was taken before a spate of layoffs at high-profile companies and big declines in the number of knowledge-worker and professional jobs advertised.

At Farmers Group, workers posted thousands of mostly negative comments on the insurer’s internal social-media platform after its new CEO nixed the company’s previous policy allowing most workers to be remote.

Employees like Kandy Mimande said they felt betrayed. “We couldn’t get the ‘why,’” said the 43-year-old, who had sold her car and spent thousands of dollars to redo her home office under the remote-work policy. She shelled out $10,000 for a used car for the commute. A company spokesperson said that not all employees will support every business decision and that Farmers hasn’t seen a significant impact on staff retention.

During a brief leave, Mimande realised she no longer felt a sense of purpose from her product-management job. She resigned last month after she and her wife decided they could live on one salary.

She now helps promote a band and pet-sits. “It’s so much easier for me to report to myself,” she said.



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Dow Industrials Hit Record, Boosted by Strong Earnings

Coca-Cola, 3M lead blue-chip index higher after reporting results.

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Strong earnings reports briefly helped power the Dow Jones Industrial Average above 47000 for the first time, the latest milestone in stocks’ three-year bull run. The blue-chip average pared gains to close below the mark, but still finished at a record.

With sky-high earnings expectations baked into stock prices, Wall Street has been watching this third-quarter reporting period closely. So far, Corporate America has delivered.

Heavyweights Coca-Cola , 3M and General Motors all reported results that exceeded analyst expectations before the opening bell on Tuesday. 3M shares rose 7.7% to a four-year high, leading the Dow.

GM soared 15% to the highest level since its 2010 post-bailout initial public offering after Chief Executive Mary Barra raised guidance and told analysts the automaker can’t make enough full-size SUVs to keep up with demand.

GM said it is making faster-than-expected progress reducing a multibillion-dollar tariff bill—a key topic for investors who are still laser-focused on trade tensions between the U.S. and China.

A solid start to third-quarter earnings has helped buoy investor sentiment, taking stocks back toward record highs after concerns over trade and credit quality bubbled up earlier this month.

As of last Friday, 86% of companies overshot earnings estimates, according to FactSet. Nearly one-fifth of S&P 500 companies are scheduled to give financial updates over the course of this week.

The S&P 500 was little changed Tuesday, while the Nasdaq composite dropped 0.2%. The Dow rose 0.5% to a record closing level of 46924.74. Treasury yields slipped, with the benchmark 10-year yield closing at 3.962%, its lowest reading since October 2024.

“This is a market being driven by strong fundamentals,” said Scott Helfstein , head of investment strategy at asset manager Global X. “Earnings growth is largely driving equity values.”

Elsewhere Tuesday, it was a historically ugly day for precious metals after an epic run-up switched abruptly into reverse. Gold tumbled 5.7%, its worst single-day decline since 2013. Silver fell 7.2%.

Some analysts tied the selloff in safe-haven assets like gold to optimism that the U.S. will reach a new trade deal with China, after the U.S. and Australia signed a rare-earths trade agreement on Monday. The drop followed a remarkable run of gains : Gold remains up 55% on the year and only fell to its lowest level since Oct. 10.

In company news, Warner Bros. Discovery said it is exploring a potential sale of some or all of its media holdings, which include a movie studio, HBO Max and CNN. Its shares rose 11% on the news, which could reshape the entertainment industry.

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