Jobs are getting better, but a quarter of people still think they are bad for their wellbeing

Although job quality appears to be on the rise, a quarter of UK workers – an estimated 8.5 million people – say their jobs have a negative impact on their mental health (25 percent) or physical health (24 percent), according to the CIPD Good Work Index 2025. The latest poll claims the negative impact of work on wellbeing has remained high for many people for the eight years the survey has been running, despite improvements for some employees on certain areas of job quality. The CIPD Good Work Index, which provides what the troubled trade association claims is the UK’s most in-depth annual survey of job quality, suggests that the strongest factors associated with unhealthy work are excessive workloads, stress, poor relationships with colleagues and the quality of line management.

The analysis in the report, based on a survey of 5,000 working people, suggests that employees who say work harms their mental health are:

• less likely to be satisfied with their jobs (37 percent compared with 93 percent for those who feel work impacts their mental health positively)
• more likely to voluntarily quit their roles in the next 12 months (34 percent vs 14 percent)
• less likely to be willing to work harder than they need to for their organisation (39 percent vs 69 percent)

It also shows just under half (46 percent) of working adults have experienced a physical health condition in the last 12 months, while 42 percent have experienced a mental health condition, with musculoskeletal problems (32 percent), anxiety (27 percent), sleep issues (27 percent) and depression (15 percent) the most common.

The CIPD’s findings are published as the UK Government seeks to understand how to keep more people healthy and in work through its Keep Britain Working review, in the context of rising health-related economic inactivity.

In response to the findings in the report, the CIPD is calling on employers to prioritise providing line managers with the development and support they need to manage people well, given their central role in managing workloads and stress and providing flexibility and support to staff.

The CIPD Good Work Index survey is based around seven measures of job quality: Pay and benefits, contracts and job security, job design, relationships at work, employee voice and health and wellbeing. Other key highlights from the report include:

• Just six in ten managers say they have the training and information (60 percent) or the time (59 percent) to manage their staff well. However, the proportion of people who feel they have a supportive manager if they have a problem has grown from 74 percent in 2023 to 79 percent in 2025, while 69 percent of workers feel their line manager is open and approachable on issues like mental health, compared to 63 percent in 2023.
• Cost of living pressures are slightly down: Overall, more people feel they can keep up with bills without difficulty, from 50 percent in 2024 to 54 percent.
• AI boosts performance when utilised: While just 16 percent of workers report tasks being automated by AI, the vast majority of those (85 percent) say this has improved their performance. Those whose tasks have been automated also report being more satisfied in their job and experience a positive effect of work on their mental wellbeing.