Have we lost our appetite for work?
The summer is a time to kick back and relax – but it seems like many in society are doing that all year round. Why?
It’s August, we’re in the middle of a heatwave, and the summer holidays are well underway. But it seems that even many who are still meant to be at work are getting firmly into the holiday spirit.
Predictably, civil servants are making the headlines, with hundreds seemingly allowed to ‘work from beach’ at holiday spots. They might compete for deckchairs with Bank of England colleagues spending up to 40 days a year working abroad, or German civil servants enjoying the ‘Mallorca rule’ allowing work from foreign beaches. Beware the Germans, though: those unable to secure a sun lounger have won payouts of €900. And spare a thought for Scottish colleagues, whose morale is reportedly plummeting under a crackdown enforcing two days a week in the office. And take a moment to consider those Care Quality Commission staff working from home but banned from using air conditioning – an order from the government’s Net Zero officials, who may, ironically, have issued it from the beach.
Silly season headlines aside, there’s a serious point: such developments are indicative of a seeming cultural shift that is estranging many from the workplace and, more broadly, the world of work.
Three years after going viral, the trend for quiet quitting – where the workforce does exactly what their job description requires and nothing more – has gathered pace. Gallup’s 2026 State of the Global Workplace report suggests employee engagement fell to 20 per cent in 2025 costing the world economy an estimated $10 trillion in lost productivity.
Of course, statistics can be made to show many things. As my colleague Jake Weston has suggested, often the problem lies with employers, workplace practices and HR departments, and the ludicrous recruitment processes that frustrate entry to the workforce and contribute to the woes of the new downwardly mobile graduate class. And when teenagers who claim benefits for ‘anxiety’ receive £100 per week more than those with a part-time job on the minimum wage, perhaps it is no surprise when young people show little inclination to work for a living.
All of which leaves Andy Burnham – currently on holiday overseas but ‘in constant contact with his office’ – in the unenviable position of addressing society’s seeming retreat from the world of work. Can policy really reverse the retreat from work? Or are there deeper cultural issues we need to address?
It’s a topic that we’ll be delving into at Battle of Ideas when we discuss these workplace trends, from quiet quitting to lazy girl jobs, and ask why we don’t want to work. See the blurb for the debate below. You can also watch video from our last festival discussion on these themes in 2022.
Our programme for this year’s festival weekend is really starting to come together (see the latest version here).
Early-bird tickets are still available for the Battle of Ideas festival, which takes place on Saturday 17 & Sunday 18 October at Church House in Westminster. Visit the festival tickets page.
FROM QUIET QUITTING TO LAZY GIRL JOBS: WHY DON’T WE WANT TO WORK?
For generations, tackling barriers to work meant creating jobs to move people out of unemployment or welfare, or fighting for equality so marginalised groups such as women could play a full role in the workforce. But today, a new challenge has emerged: increasingly, people appear to be choosing not to work.
Economic inactivity has risen sharply, with 21 per cent of working-age adults neither employed nor seeking work. Amongst younger people, the trend is particularly pronounced, with almost three million neither actively looking for nor available to start a job. Those within the workplace also seem estranged from work. New expressions such as ‘bullshit jobs’, ‘burnout’, ‘quiet quitting’ and ‘lazy girl jobs’ capture current disenchantment with the demands of working life.
Some blame a failing labour market. Flatlining wages and insecure jobs at a time of spiralling living costs hardly incentivise work, while the decline of apprenticeships, training and clear career paths make it harder for young people to see work as a route to a better future. Meanwhile, rising minimum wages and National Insurance contributions have squeezed out entry-level jobs in retail and hospitality that once taught young people the habits and discipline of working life.
Others say the main problem is not so much getting a job, but that work today is often futile or intolerable. Target-driven bureaucracy, pointless box-ticking and ‘bullshit jobs’ can leave workers alienated or burned out. Post-Covid working from home has weakened workplace culture and made ‘quiet quitting’ easier. With workplaces now deemed ‘toxic’ and allegedly dominated by abusive bosses and cliquey co-workers – rather than valued colleagues and potential allies and friends – the clamour for a better work-life balance will mean even less time in the office. Have employers themselves created the very disaffection they now complain about?
Or does work suffer from a deeper cultural shift? When schools and universities encourage ordinary difficulties to be seen as mental-health problems, young people may see work as inherently stressful or harmful. If they see themselves as fragile rather than resilient, and assume their personal whims or individual identities must be flattered and indulged, then assuming responsibility and adapting to hierarchies and shared goals can seem unreasonable. Working hard, carrying out orders from the boss or simply enduring boring tasks seems less attractive than ‘lazy girl jobs’ promising minimal effort and maximum lifestyle.
Workers have always faced insecurity and tedious jobs while young people have long craved a life beyond work. So, has anything fundamental changed? Is economic inactivity a rational response to a dysfunctional economy, or a symptom of declining expectations and a weakening work ethic? The Burnham-led government hopes apprenticeships, training and voluntary work can coax people back. But can policy reverse the retreat from work? More fundamentally, why should we want to work at all?
WORK SHY AND RETIRING: HAVE WE FALLEN OUT OF LOVE WITH WORK?
Debate at the Battle of Ideas festival 2022, with Brian Denny, Linda Murdoch, Angelica Walker-Werth and Dr Glynne Williams.