The key facts
- Workers' willingness to do more than required fell from 69% in 2015 to 55% in 2025
- One in four workers is not even 'reasonably satisfied' with their role — a record low
- Resolution Foundation suggests the decline in engagement may partly explain weak post-pandemic productivity growth
Less engagement, more focus on pay
The 'quiet quitting' trend, in which employees do only the basic requirements of their job and refuse to do anything beyond that, may be harming the economy. This is the conclusion of the British thinktank Resolution Foundation in a new report, as reported by BBC News. According to the study, over the past decade people in the UK have become less engaged in their work and less willing to put in extra effort.
What the numbers showed
The survey covered 4,656 adults. The share of respondents willing to 'go the extra mile' for their employer fell from 69% in 2015 to 55% in 2025. The number of those not even 'reasonably satisfied' with their role reached one in four — the lowest level since records began. In addition, fewer people described their work as interesting: 63% compared with 74% ten years ago. The report's authors write that workers today are 'somewhat less committed to their employers and somewhat less intrinsically inclined towards work in general' than a decade ago, and are more focused on pay — which, in their view, is unsurprising 'given the stagnation in living standards over the past decade.'
The link to productivity
Resolution Foundation suggests that this shift 'may have contributed to weak productivity growth,' which slowed after the financial crisis and weakened again after the pandemic. The organisation's chief economist, Hannah Slaughter, noted that this is 'obviously bad for workers,' but also 'bodes nothing good for productivity and labour supply,' on which living standards growth in the coming years depends. The term 'quiet quitting' became popular on social media shortly after the pandemic: authors of posts, frustrated by high demands, low pay and a squeeze on living standards, advised doing only what the boss asks and not checking email outside working hours. The Foundation stresses that its report's data 'is consistent' with this idea, meaning the phenomenon is not limited to discussion on TikTok.
The authors' caveats
Sir John Curtice, professor of politics and co-author of the report, warned against simplistic interpretations: the analysis does not mean that young people 'have become lazier' or that workers in general have become more likely to change jobs. According to him, for full employee engagement, employers apparently now need to offer work that is 'both well paid and flexibly scheduled.' The report records a shift in attitudes over the decade and its possible link to productivity, but does not provide a definitive assessment of the scale of the impact on the economy.
Image source, Getty Images 
