Job satisfaction among British workers has fallen to its lowest level on record as low pay, insecurity and a lack of control over working life wear down their goodwill towards employers. Fewer workers are willing to put in extra effort to help the boss succeed. Employers who want ever more commitment might consider what they’re offering in return.
Analysis by the Resolution Foundation, based on the 2025 British Social Attitudes survey, found that job satisfaction fell from 81 percent in 2015 to 74 percent in 2025. That’s the lowest figure since the survey first asked the question in 1989.
Over the same decade, the proportion willing to work harder than required to help their employer succeed fell from 69 percent to 55 percent. The share who described their jobs as interesting dropped from 74 percent to 63 percent, while fewer saw opportunities for advancement.
These figures give little support to the familiar accusation that workers have become lazy. Just 4 percent said there was “little intrinsic value” in working, a proportion that hasn’t risen over time. Workers still value work. Their growing dissatisfaction concerns the jobs employers actually offer them.
John Curtice, the pollster and co-editor of the British Social Attitudes report, said the findings showed young people hadn’t become more work-shy, nor had workers generally become more reluctant to change jobs. Separate Ipsos polling reinforces the picture of declining satisfaction: 69 percent reported being very or fairly satisfied with their work in 2026, compared with 83 percent in 1976.
Hannah Slaughter, an economist at the Resolution Foundation and co-author of the report, said concern about low pay had grown across the pay scales. Decades of weak pay rises and the spiralling cost of living had taken their toll. Workers also wanted greater flexibility.
“Workers increasingly want jobs that provide flexibility, independence and financial security. But many feel those expectations are not being met,” said Slaughter.
Workers need wages to pay the bills. That doesn’t mean they owe employers unlimited enthusiasm for the terms on offer. Bosses demand commitment to the firm, but workers have their own interests: a secure income, manageable hours and some control over their lives. Those interests clash when employers hold down labour costs and demand more effort.
The foundation approaches this discontent partly as a problem for productivity and labour supply. Slaughter said:
“The result is rising frustration among workers, who report lower job satisfaction, declining willingness to go above and beyond, and a reduced appetite for full-time work. This ‘dissatisfaction drain’ is self-evidently bad for workers, but it also doesn’t bode well for productivity and labour supply, both of which are vital for lifting living standards in the years ahead.”
Yet workers don’t automatically receive higher wages when they produce more. Capitalist employers hire them to extract surplus value: workers produce more value than they receive in wages, and employers take the surplus. Greater effort can swell profits while leaving pay unchanged. Whether workers secure any of the gains depends on their struggle with employers over wages and conditions.
The decline in willingness to do more than the job requires is therefore hardly mysterious. Employers ask workers to make the firm’s success their personal responsibility. Workers still have to judge that success against their own pay packets, their security and the hours left for themselves. A profitable employer and a satisfied workforce are two different things.
