Glassdoor's Workplace Word of the Year is 'Anxiety'

By Michael Grothaus, Fast Company (TNS)

If there’s one word that sums up 2023 in most employees’ minds, it’s “anxiety,” according to the jobs and careers site Glassdoor. Based on an analysis of Glassdoor conversations, the company says mentions of “anxiety” by users were up 338% in 2023.

But what’s even more interesting than the word of the year are the related terms used in Glassdoor discussions, which go a long way toward explaining just why professionals were feeling so anxious in 2023. They include:

Layoff (up 293% in 2023)
Burnout (up 12%)
RTO/return to office (up 476%)
Mental health (up 23%)

This year it seemed that hardly a week went by where you didn’t hear of some major tech or media company cutting jobs, so it’s no wonder that layoffs were discussed so much on Glassdoor. Likewise, more companies than ever began pushing their work-from-home employees to return to the office. And as companies cut employees to bring costs down, those left were frequently burdened by additional work, leading to many feeling burned out.

Yet the fact that “mental health” saw a 23% uptick in Glassdoor discussions suggests that at least employees are more willing to speak openly about how 2023’s workplace anxieties have impacted them.

In addition to revealing its words of the year, Glassdoor also highlighted the results from some of its community polls throughout the year. One poll found that 81% of professionals said they would be more productive if their company moved to a four-day workweek. Another poll found that 51% of professionals are not happy with their benefits package. Meanwhile, 71% said they would not feel comfortable discussing their mental health needs with their managers.

Finally, another term that surged on Glassdoor during 2023 was “ChatGPT,” which grew 2,369% this year—and it’s no wonder why. A November Glassdoor poll found that 62% of professionals admitted to using the chatbot or other AI tools to help with workplace tasks.

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