The cost-of-living crisis has negatively impacted the job satisfaction of 35% of the nation’s workforce and 1.4 million workers are expect to quit within six to 12 months, according to new research.

Leading workers compensation insurer Allianz Australia surveyed 1,500 employees and 521 managers in May, finding 28% of employees have felt exhausted when it comes to work over the last year and 24% feel they’re underpaid.

Employees saw their living costs leap by close to 10% in the year to June on the back of a record quarterly rise, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) found.

That’s significantly higher the simultaneous increase recorded by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), with inflation rising just 6% in the 12 months to June.

Gen X workers were the most likely to report the cost-of-living crisis is having a negative impact on their job satisfaction, with 41% responding so, followed by 40% of Gen Z workers and 29% of Millennials.

The survey results come amid a continuous "jobseeker's market", Indeed senior economist Callam Pickering told the Savings Tip Jar podcast recently.

While the unemployment rate has lifted off its 2022 low of 3.4% and is expected to pick up in the coming months to reach 4% by year’s end, it remains well below historical levels. 

“We've seen extraordinary employment growth over the past couple of years, we've seen amazing job creation, and certainly there's a lot more jobs out there today unfilled than there was before the pandemic began or at any point in Australia's recent economic history," Mr Pickering said.

Of 21.2 million people living in Australia in February, 13.8 million were employed and 1.8 million were looking for work, according to ABS data.

Considering that data, the 1.4 million workers likely to quit over the coming six to 12 months make up over 10% of employees, or around 9% of the potential workforce.

Allianz also noted the number of days taken off work due to mental health has increased 39% over the last four years, while mental health claims have increased by 46% since pre-pandemic times.

Nearly nine in ten managers reported they are satisfied with their organisation’s ability to create mentally healthy workplaces for employees, while almost one in five workers stated their work often triggers mental health challenges.

The workers compensation insurer is calling for a ‘workplace realignment’ on the back of the data.

“Ongoing disruptions have continued to fuel a disconnect between managers, employees and organisations on the most important workplace mental health issues,” said Julie Mitchell, Allianz Australia chief general manager of personal injury.

"This disconnect continues to have a serious impact on workplace satisfaction and employee retention, and in turn, is continuing a worrying trend of increasing mental health claims in the workplace.”

First published on September 2023

Image by Nastuh Abootalebi on Unsplash.