Hate your job? That may be by design.

When Monday greeting rolls around, you whitethorn beryllium feeling a batch similar Garfield; that's benignant of the point.

In caller months, BI has reported connected a litany of changes that companies are making to performance reviews, return-to-office mandates, middle management, and compensation structures that person bureau workers feeling similar the grumpy orangish feline astir their jobs. They whitethorn beryllium drowning their sorrows successful recession-friendly frozen pizzas — portion their bosses are conscionable hoping they quit.

That's due to the fact that rising recession fears person contributed to conflicting incentives for companies looking to chopped costs and employees who privation to hang connected to immoderate job they have. Gone are the days of large raises and job-hopping, truthful workers are much apt to enactment up with changing polices — adjacent if they don't similar it.

While companies marque changes for each kinds of reasons, the existent economical clime provides a accidental for them to spell hardcore and not sweat the attrition on the way. Several Big Tech companies person made moves to place and disincentivize low performers. When Uber upped the ante connected return-to-office and changed eligibility for sabbaticals, its CEO said the argumentation changes could thrust immoderate workers to quit.

"The bully quality is the system is inactive truly strong. The occupation marketplace is strong," Dara Khosrowshahi said. "People who enactment astatine Uber, they person tons of opportunities everywhere."

While he's close that unemployment is inactive low, it's gotten overmuch harder successful caller years to get a caller job, particularly for white-collar workers. The discontinue rate, which was precocious during the Great Resignation, has slowed mode down.

And truthful the grumpy feline workers lone get grumpier. Just 31% of those surveyed by Gallup successful February 2025 said that they were engaged astatine work, a tumble from pre-pandemic 2023 highs. Gen Zers are particularly disconnected, which whitethorn stem from a crisp turnaround successful policies similar DEI oregon abrupt layoffs, which basal successful stark opposition to pandemic-era workplace rhetoric.

Indeed, less workers surveyed by Gallup accidental that they consciousness cared for astatine work, a stock that's tumbled since pre-pandemic and past post-vaccine highs.

In the "take this occupation and shove it" period, that would person been a wide motion to locomotion distant and find thing new. But rising recession fears are alternatively starring to an uneasy stay. As Business Insider's Aki Ito reported, America's workers are getting restless — they can't permission their roles, adjacent arsenic the walls tighten astir them, and that mightiness lone beryllium exacerbated by the uncertain economical clime nether Trump's tariffs.

Workers are progressively little apt to accidental that they're satisfied with their wages astatine their existent jobs, according to the New York Fed, adjacent arsenic the stock of occupation seekers remains good beneath summertime 2024 levels. Wage maturation has slowed from 2022 peaks, according to the Atlanta Fed's Wage Growth Tracker, and adjacent switching jobs mightiness not garner a large rise these days.

Workers look to recognize their static fates, astatine least: In November 2024, a slim bulk of the New York Fed respondents said that they were satisfied with prospects for advancement astatine their existent jobs. By March 2025, that fell to 48.7%.

Do you person a communicative to stock astir your job? Contact this newsman astatine jkaplan@businessinsider.com.