According to Gallup’s 2023 State of the Global Workplace Report, employee stress remains at record-level highs especially in the US and Canada.

This report also explores employees’ attitudes toward quiet quitting, thriving at work, remote and hybrid work, and more.

Download Full Report

It’s always validating to know you aren’t alone in how you feel though so let’s start with stress at work.

“Forty-four percent of employees said they experienced a lot of stress the previous day, repeating the record high in 2021 and continuing a trend of elevated stress that began almost a decade earlier.” Source: State of the Global Workplace Report

That number jumps to 52% when just looking at employees in the US and Canada. And 57% of females in these two countries experiencing high daily stress which is the highest regional percentage. Go us!

But it’s not all bad news! Employee engagement is increasing again reaching a record-high 23%.

Except a huge jump in engagement in South Asia bolstered that figure. Aaannd engagement in the US and Canada is actually down two points from 2021 to 2022. (To be fair, we are still well above the average with 31% of employees in the US and Canada engaged at work. But this is not a great trend.)

What do you mean by engaged at work?

You may remember from my previous post on The Great Resignation that employee engagement is a measurement of the involvement and enthusiasm of employees and Gallup calculates it by having survey takers rate the following statements (what they call the 12 essential elements of engagement) on a scale from 1-5 with a sixth option of “don’t know/does not apply”:

1. I know what is expected of me at work.
2. I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right.
3. At work, I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day.
4. In the last seven days, I have received recognition or praise for doing good work.
5. My supervisor, or someone at work, seems to care about me as a person.
6. There is someone at work who encourages my development.
7. At work, my opinions seem to count.
8. The mission or purpose of my company makes me feel my job is important.
9. My associates or fellow employees are committed to doing quality work.
10. I have a best friend at work.
11. In the last six months, someone at work has talked to me about my progress.
12. This last year, I have had opportunities at work to learn and grow.

Other Highlights from the Report

The report also breaks down employees as:

• Thriving: These employees find their work meaningful and feel connected to the team and their organization. They feel proud of the work they do and take ownership of their performance, going the extra mile for teammates and customers.
• Quiet Quitting: These employees are filling a seat and watching the clock. They put in the minimum effort required, and they are psychologically disconnected from their employer. Although they are minimally productive, they are more likely to be stressed and burnt out than engaged workers because they feel lost and disconnected from their workplace.
• Loud Quitting: These employees take actions that directly harm the organization, undercutting its goals and opposing its leaders. At some point along the way, the trust between employee and employer was severely broken. Or the employee has been woefully mismatched to a role, causing constant crises.

In the US and Canada, 31% are thriving, 52% are quiet quitting and 17% are loud quitting. The graph below compares our region with the rest of the world. showing that while we may be more stressed, we are more engaged and less likely to be quiet quitting.

These numbers show there is a lot of room for improvement with how we treat our employees. Need help? Here are some more resources on workplace culture, teams, and relationships:

• Gallup’s full State of the Global Workplace: 2023 Report
• The Great Resignation: Why Your Nonprofit Employees Are Quitting and How to Stop It
• Is Your Team Failing? A Few Reasons Why
• Quiet Quitting Isn’t as Simple as It Seems
• Are Nonprofit Communicators Looking for New Jobs?
• Why Communications Staff Need the Ability to Say No
• More from our blog

In our 2023 Nonprofit Communications Trends Report, we asked if you would be looking for a job with a different organization in 2023.

More than a third (34%) of nonprofit communications staff plan to look for new jobs in 2023. But we suspect that a much larger percentage are open to opportunities even if they are not actively looking.

Is the Great Resignation Still Going?

There are varying thoughts on whether the Great Resignation will heat up in 2023 or grind to a halt.

Either way, many blamed the Great Resignation on employees just wanting more money, but research shows it’s much deeper than that.

In my September 2021 post The Great Resignation: Why Your Nonprofit Employees Are Quitting and How to Stop It, I found that the highest quit rate is among those that are “not engaged” and “actively disengaged” workers. Gallup calculated employee engagement by having survey takers rate the following statements (what they call the 12 essential elements of engagement) on a scale from 1-5 with a sixth option of “don’t know/does not apply”:

1. I know what is expected of me at work.
2. I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right.
3. At work, I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day.
4. In the last seven days, I have received recognition or praise for doing good work.
5. My supervisor, or someone at work, seems to care about me as a person.
6. There is someone at work who encourages my development.
7. At work, my opinions seem to count.
8. The mission or purpose of my company makes me feel my job is important.
9. My associates or fellow employees are committed to doing quality work.
10. I have a best friend at work.
11. In the last six months, someone at work has talked to me about my progress.
12. This last year, I have had opportunities at work to learn and grow.

I highlighted three of these elements because they all speak to a trend we found in our 2023 Trends Report data.

Which Nonprofits Should Be Most Concerned About Losing Their Communications Staff

When analyzing the answers from survey takers who were likely to leave (see chart below), what really stood out as the differentiator isn’t team size or whether they received a raise in the last two years. It was (1) whether they believe there is an opportunity for advancement and (2) how difficult it is to say No when a supervisor makes a work request. (See Kivi’s post Why Communications Staff Need the Ability to Say No for more on this second factor)

A whopping 80% of those who said they were looking for a new job did NOT believe they had an opportunity for advancement or weren’t sure.

So you can’t really blame staff retention problems on money alone. For nonprofit communicators, much more goes into their decisions about whether to stay or go.

You can read all about our findings on nonprofit communications jobs including salary info and budget size in our FREE 2023 Nonprofit Communications Trends Report.

Like a lot of people out there when I first heard about “quiet quitting” I assumed people were just packing up their crap and sneaking out the back or maybe never coming back from their lunch break.

But it’s really just avoiding burnout and exploitation by only doing what you were hired to do during normal working hours. It’s a lot of what we’ve been talking about in our #NPCOMMLIFE posts for years.

Here is the TikToker credited with making it viral:

@zaidleppelin On quiet quitting #workreform ♬ original sound – ruby

As with most social media trends, people have thoughts.

Ariana Huffington said: “Quiet quitting isn’t just about quitting on a job, it’s a step toward quitting on life.”

She does go on to clarify if you aren’t engaged at your job, you should join the other big employment trend – The Great Resignation. But that still seems a bit dramatic to tell someone they have given up on life because they don’t want to stay at work late.

Kevin O’Leary is even more direct saying “You have to go beyond because you want to. That’s how you achieve success” in this video.

(Coincidence they were both born in the 1950s?)

And you can see from these search results that some people think the whole idea this is a new thing is ridiculous:

So how should you handle quiet quitting?

That depends entirely on your situation. I started this post fully expecting to say we should all be quiet quitting because:

• Enforcing boundaries is important.
• Having work-life balance is essential.
• Your employer should not be taking advantage of you.
• You should not be forced to tie your identity to your work.

All of those things are true. BUT it also oversimplifies many people’s situations.

As Tayo Bero points out:

The freedom to dial back your investment at work and not worry about the security of your job is a privilege in itself, and one that many people from marginalized identities don’t feel they can enjoy, even as work cultures shift.

Women – and especially women of color – have always been expected to do more than their male counterparts. The men get to attend lunch meetings with a big client and the boss while we get to plan the holiday party and order office supplies.

Yes, that is a workplace problem that should absolutely be addressed, but it’s still a reality that needs to be considered.

To get the attention they deserve, some people just can’t afford to not go above and beyond.

And also what if you genuinely like the hustle? You like stepping up. Or you look at new assignments as a way to learn and grow.

If you don’t subscribe to quiet quitting, are you going to be shunned as a “try hard” by the rest of your colleagues? I would hope not.

The truth is quiet quitters are nothing new. There are have always been those who do their work and nothing more. And there have always been those who want to be seen as go-getters. There is room for both of these work styles within an organization and they should both be valued.

I also think anything that furthers the conversation about work-life balance is a good thing. And while we can’t ignore the privilege behind it, the quiet quitting movement has certainly gotten people talking.

Here are some of our top posts on setting boundaries and work-life balance:

• Toxic Productivity: Is There Such a Thing as Being Too Productive?
• The Magic of No: When to Say “No” and How
• Setting Boundaries So You Don’t Get Doormatted
• How to Establish Boundaries at Your Nonprofit Job
• The 8 Kinds of Burnout
• Are You Enough? When the Need for Self-Improvement Becomes a Bad Thing

Happy Friday! Are you ready for the latest in social media, content marketing and other news from around the world of marketing and fundraising? This week we have marketing metrics, social media benchmarks, DEI in marketing and more.

It’s time for Mixed Links…

Here are 5 Ways to Make Your Blogging Life Easier.

Which Social Media Measurements Matter Most? It’s All in the Customer Journey

And here are some other Marketing KPIs to Focus on in 2022.

Social Insider released a study on 2022 Social Media Industry Benchmarks – Know Exactly Where You Stand in Your Market.

Find out The Importance of DEI in Your Marketing and Communications Strategy

And finally use these 4 Tips for Increasing Employee Engagement in Nonprofit Organizations

Catch Up on Our Content from This Week…

• The Great Resignation Doesn’t Seem to Be Slowing: Remote Work and Pay Big Factors Now
• LISTEN: Kivi Answers 20 Questions for Rabble-Rousers and Changemakers

Nonprofit Communications Training for You…

The Annual All-Access Training Pass

You can attend all of our training webinars and workshops below at no extra cost (as well as access lots of other goodies) for 365 days with an All-Access Pass. *Sale ends April 1st, 2022.

Learn more and get your All-Access Pass.

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It’s Friday so that means we’ve got the most helpful articles, posts, tips, and more from around the world of nonprofit marketing and fundraising. This week we have addressing crises, website benchmarks, social media tips, cheap fundraising ideas, and more.

It’s time for Mixed Links…

The Ukraine War Tests Whether Marketers Can Address Crisis Meaningfully.

You can learn How to Prove Social Media ROI Without Drowning in Spreadsheets.

And if you don’t like what you see, use the Top 8 Social Media Marketing Ideas for Better ROI according to The 60 Second Marketer.

Ann Gynn shares 6 Content Helpers That Encourage People To Read, Watch, or Listen.

The Great Resignation Hits the C-Suite.

Sandy Rees helps you Build a Non-profit Website that Works [Steal These Ideas!].

And Hubspot has the latest web traffic benchmarks, trends, and analytics insights from their survey of 400 web professionals.

Fundraisers, here are 54+ Easy & Cheap Fundraising Ideas.

Twitter decides against force-feeding users its algorithm after all.

And finally, Vu Le says The nonprofit sector is not more dysfunctional than any other sector, OK?

Catch Up on Our Content from this Week…

• What’s a Typical Day at Your Job Look Like?
• Measuring Your Nonprofit Marketing Success

The Annual All-Access Pass to Training Events and More

You can attend all of our training webinars and workshops below at no extra cost (as well as access lots of other goodies) for 365 days with an All-Access Pass.

Learn more and get your All-Access Pass.

Register Now

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Happy Friday! Join me for the most helpful articles, posts, tips, and more from around the world of nonprofit marketing and fundraising. This week we have fall color trends, Instagram Reels advice, social media audits, and more.

It’s time for Mixed Links…

Jenna Allen shares Key takeaways from Candid’s 2021 Nonprofit Compensation Report.

Thinking of getting back into fundraising events? Here’s Why You Should Do A Cost-Benefit Analysis Before Throwing Your Next Nonprofit Fundraising Event.

Here is an Instagram Reels Tutorial: 10 Editing Tips You Should Know.

Zoom Announces New Features At Zoomtopia 2021.

Learn Why Content Is at the Center of Modern Customer Journeys.

Lacey Kruger lays out 10 Steps to Better Mobile Donation Forms.

Find out How to Conduct a Social Media Audit in Just 30 Minutes.

Maria Sibirtseva talks Fall Color Trends 2021: Creative Palettes and Curated Collections to Boost Your Projects.

And finally Vu Le creates 10 shows about nonprofit and philanthropy that would be way better than “The Activist”

Catch Up on Our Content from this Week…

• The Great Resignation: Why Your Nonprofit Employees Are Quitting and How to Stop It
• Email Welcome Series Best Practices
• The 3 Best Ways to Create More Email Engagement

Nonprofit Training for You…

The Annual All-Access Pass to Training Webinars

You can attend all of our training webinars and workshops for free as well as access lots of other goodies for 365 days with an All-Access Pass.

Learn more and get your All-Access Pass.

Register Now

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