Pessimism is hurting the American workforce—and Gen Z is most vulnerable

Sometimes it feels like the world is on fire—even, if not especially, at work, according to a new report which found that a toxic “triple threat” of pessimism, uncertainty, and disconnect in the workplace is reaching critical levels.

That, in turn, is endangering employee well-being and undermining productivity, according to the just-released 2025 State of the Workforce Report from “workplace resilience system” meQuilibrium.

“Pessimism in the workforce represents a greater threat than just complaining about one’s job around the water cooler—it directly undermines workplace productivity and mental health,” said meQ chief science officer Brad Smith in a news release. “We found that employees with work-related pessimism experience an over 60% reduction in productivity and 128% greater risk of depression.”

The report analyzes findings from 5,477 employees across various industries in order to provide actionable insights for building empathetic leadership, developing individual resilience skills, and leveraging “organizational citizenship behaviors to protect both well-being and business outcomes in this challenging landscape.”

The problem with pessimism, uncertainty, and disconnect

According to the findings, 67% of employees say they feel worse when thinking about the state of the country, 35% feel worse about their work situation, and 49% feel worse about their finances—with a majority, 52%, expecting the state of our country to worsen. Meanwhile, 27% expect their finances to get worse, while 24% expect their work situation to decline.

Add uncertainty to the mix, and it more than triples the rate at which employees have a pessimistic view of work.

“The rise in uncertainty-related stress impacts more than feelings—it’s costing companies: Individuals who report a high degree of uncertainty-related stress also exhibit much greater productivity impairment, indicating that uncertainty may be reducing output by as much as half,” said Smith. “Additionally, nearly one in three employees who experienced a high degree of uncertainty-related stress show a high degree of burnout.”

Burnout, in turn, is part of the third problematic element—disconnect—that drains employees’ mental and emotional energy. Also a part of that is a sense of broken trust when companies or leaders fail to meet expectations, which leads to weakened working relationships. More than half of employees (55%) showed at least one symptom of disconnect—particularly younger employees (18–29), 62% of which say they are affected by disconnect. The most severely affected reported a 66% impairment in productivity.

“Uncertainty-related stress isn’t going away—it’s the new normal in the workplace,” said Smith. “What’s alarming is how it’s eroding employee confidence and dragging down performance and engagement without many even noticing.”

Gen Z is the most pessimistic

In addition to being more disconnected, Gen Z appears to be most pessimistic, despite pessimism remaining consistent across most demographic groups. The current state of pessimism for that group is significantly higher than for others across all measured categories:

71% of Gen Zers expressed negative views about the country’s state compared to 59% of older employees.
62% of Gen Z reported dissatisfaction with their financial situation, vs. 37% of older employees.
48% of Gen Z—vs. 22% of older workers—was pessimistic about their work situation.

Interestingly, when it comes to what’s still to come, Gen Z has hope, demonstrating consistently lower levels of pessimism about what the future holds.

How companies can turn this negativity around

The report calls out two “critical protective factors” that can fight back against the triple threat:

Empathetic management: Managers who prioritize well-being for their team create top-down positive effects—reducing the stress of uncertainty by 37% and disconnect rates from 78% to 40%, the analysis found.
Individual resilience: Among the most resilient employees—particularly those with the learnable skills of emotion control and realistic optimism—only 6% show signs of extreme disconnect compared to 59% of the least resilient.

Bottom line: To reverse the pessimism-uncertainty-disconnect threat, leaders should prioritize developing empathetic leadership at all levels, provide support for resiliency, and encourage peer support to strengthen company cultures.