A new study from Adaptavist revealed that 42% of knowledge workers are reporting a reduction in motivation at work, leading to a phenomenon dubbed “quiet cracking.”
Specifically, 38% of the 4,000 respondents from the UK, US, Canada, and Germany said they felt hopeless about their career advancement prospects, 38% had concerns around job security, 37% were communicating with colleagues less, and 32% experienced a loss of confidence.
Adaptavist says that one of the reasons behind this is employees not understanding the why behind their work, an experience that nearly three-quarters of respondents go through.
According to Adaptavist, 43% of respondents who don’t understand why they’re doing certain tasks work reported disengagement, compared to just 32% among those who understand the why.
They also found that younger workers are more likely to not understand the why of their work, with 34% of 18-24 years olds saying they sometimes or rarely understand the why, compared to the average among all ages of 25% and significantly higher than workers 55 and older (17%).
“As the rise of AI fuels speculation about how junior talent is supported and developed, these latest findings speak to a different cultural challenge: younger workers are struggling to understand the rationale behind their work,” Adaptavist wrote in an announcement.
Another factor leading to disengagement is overuse of corporate jargon, like “KPIs,” “efficiency,” or “action items,” for example. 74% of respondents said that this jargon caused them to disengage, and 39% feel this way on a weekly basis.
These first two factors have a compounding effect, as those that understand the why of their work are more than twice as likely to say that corporate jargon doesn’t cause them to disengage at work.
Finally, 27% say they feel overwhelmed by “digital noise” and 67% experience it some of the time. According to Adaptavist, those impacted negatively by digital noise are more likely to consider technology as having a negative impact on their mental health.
“Leaders can no longer afford to ignore the cracks in workplace engagement, and evidently, employees need clarity and purpose, not buzzwords,” said Neal Riley, innovation lead at The Adaptavist Group. “With over a quarter of workers overwhelmed by digital noise, it’s clear that teams need tools that support effective collaboration, purposeful communication, and which don’t exacerbate stress and workloads. Our findings underscore the critical importance of articulating the ‘why,’ pinning strategy to execution, and aligning teams around shared outcomes to both protect morale and boost performance.”
