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In a word
- When asked to describe their job in one word, workers most often responded “tired,” “surviving” or “meh.”
- 46% of U.S. employees have considered quitting because they feel emotionally exhausted or numb at work.
- Nearly half say changes at the company make them indifferent, anxious, or nothing at all – signs of widespread detachment.
- 63% sometimes or often feel disconnected from their colleagues despite constant digital communication.
- Most say they are “just surviving” rather than thriving, and many no longer believe that asking for help would make a difference.
- The study authors warn that this emotional flatness could signal a new normal in how people relate to work.
BRISTOL, England — When asked to describe their relationship with work in one word, employees aren’t looking to be “fulfilling” or “rewarding.” Instead, they type words like “tired,” “surviving,” “unsatisfactory,” and “necessary.” Some go further: “meh”, “meh”, “adequate”, “autopilot”. One person simply wrote: “I’m here to get paid. »
These are not isolated complaints from a few disgruntled workers. New survey data from UK workplace training company Sponge shows that almost half of workers, 46%, have considered leaving their role due to emotional exhaustion or feeling numb at work. Another 3% have already done so.
The survey of 520 full-time employees at large companies revealed something beyond the typical burnout narrative. Workers are no longer just stressed. They check.
Change sounds like noise
Although acute reactions such as anxiety and overwhelm remain present, a deeper emotional state has taken hold. Researchers describe this as a new phase of emotional shutdown in the workplace, marked by widespread detachment.
“What we’re seeing now is the impact of their endurance over the past decade, through years of uncertainty, disruption, and digital saturation that were further intensified by the pandemic,” Sponge’s team wrote in its analysis. “This prolonged tension gave rise to a new set of dominant emotional experiences: not just stress in the moment, but a deeper state of numbness, self-preservation, and detachment. »
When companies announce new rules, working methods or strategies, 30% of employees report feeling “numb or indifferent”. 17% feel “nothing” at all. This represents nearly half of the workforce that greets organizational change with emotional platitude rather than commitment.
Only 23% said such announcements made them feel “inspired or excited.” The remaining 30% reported feeling “overwhelmed or anxious.” For many workers, change has become something to endure rather than accept.
Very few workers prosper
When researchers asked which statement best captured how they feel about their careers today, 38% responded, “I’m just surviving.” Another 17% said “I’m stuck.” Only 8% responded “I’m thriving.”
Even among the 35% who said they were “building toward a future,” the accompanying qualitative responses often told a different story. When given space to elaborate in their own words, many used language that suggested resignation rather than ambition.
More than 63% of employees say they sometimes, often, or always feel disconnected from their colleagues, despite constant digital connection through Slack, Teams, and Zoom. Only 14% say they have never experienced this disconnection. For those who feel disconnected, the consequences show up in their work. Of the 326 respondents who answered a follow-up question about impact, 24% said they had become disengaged, 19% said they had become more cynical, and 18% said they had been less productive or creative. An additional 9% now avoid meetings or collaboration.
“I don’t think it would make a difference.”
When workers are in trouble, many do not seek help. When asked what stops people from seeking help when they feel numb, overwhelmed, or uncaring, the most common answer was telling: 38% said, “I don’t think it would make a difference.”
21% say they do not trust their manager or team. Around 12% worry it will affect how they are perceived, while 13% say they don’t have time to deal with it. Only 7% said they felt comfortable asking for help.
When more than a third of employees in difficulty believe that expressing their difficulties would be useless, this indicates a problem of perception, or even a real breakdown in support systems in the company. Whether the programs exist or not, employees do not believe they will be useful.
What is behind work posting?
Among workers identified as experiencing negative emotions, the researchers asked what they believed was the biggest contributing factor. Two causes stand out: 27% highlighted feeling undervalued, while 19% cited a lack of purpose or meaning in their work. Another 17% blamed unclear priorities or constant change. Other responses included fear of job loss or financial pressure (16%), too many meetings or digital tools (8%), and lack of real connection with colleagues (7%).
Six in ten workers say their personal priorities regarding family, health or finances conflict with the demands of their job, at least sometimes. About 42% said it happened sometimes, 12% often, and 8% always.
When asked how safe they felt expressing emotional concerns in their current role, only 26% said “very safe.” While 43% said “somewhat safe,” that left 23% who said they felt “not very safe” and 9% who said “not at all safe.” Nearly a third of workers feel they cannot talk openly about their emotional difficulties at work.
What makes these numbers so concerning is what they say about the normalization of emotional exhaustion in the workplace. When asked to describe their work in one word, workers chose terms that suggest endurance, not commitment. If almost half have thought about leaving, it is not because they are having a bad week. That’s because feeling numb at work has become ordinary rather than exceptional.
Survey methodology
Sponge conducted the survey in September 2025 through an independent survey vendor. The company collected responses from 520 full-time employees working in large organizations with 5,000 or more employees. Respondents represented a range of departments, roles and experience levels. The survey combined quantitative questions with rating scales and multiple choice options as well as qualitative questions allowing for open-ended responses. To contextualize the survey results, researchers also analyzed 40 third-party research sources on employee experience, the impact of technology in the workplace, and global events affecting work over the past decade. The margin of error for a sample of this size is approximately 4.3 percentage points at a 95% confidence level.
