Nearly two-thirds of UK workers worry about burnout in 2025 as businesses reduce resources to manage rising employment costs, according to research from global recruitment firm Robert Half.
The firm’s 2025 Candidate Sentiment Survey, a study of over 1,200 UK workers between 30 December 2024 and 3 January 2025, found that 62% of staff believe businesses are at risk of overworking their employees this year. This has created a growing negative sentiment in the workforce, with 60% of workers stating that companies prioritize profit over people, the survey stated.
Almost a third of workers (30%) also indicated that the increase in National Insurance Contributions (NICs) will put more pressure on them to do more with less. This comes at a time when the UK S&P Composite Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) revealed that employers are cutting staff at the fastest rate in nearly four years, amid reports from the British Chamber of Commerce that business morale has hit a two-year low due to planned tax hikes.
“Our research shows that the majority of the workforce feel that their employers’ priorities are not in the right places, with 60% saying businesses are more concerned about profit and productivity than their people,” Matt Weston, senior managing director of UK & Ireland, at Robert Half, said in a press release. “Nonetheless, budgets are clearly tight at the moment and businesses are struggling to find ways to balance the books. In fact, according to our latest hiring intentions data, 68% of employers are concerned about budget constraints for the year ahead.”
The data also showed that younger demographics are seemingly at greater risk of burnout given the increase in NICs. More than a third (37%) of 18-34-year-olds are worried that this will lead to more pressure on them to do more with less. The majority (65%) of those in this age group also revealed that employers are at risk of overworking them this year.
“On top of the high borrowing costs businesses have had to deal with in the past two years, such sentiment is further driven by the hikes in NICs and minimum wage announced in the latter part of last year,” Weston added. “However, the worry from the workforce is that they will have to shoulder the burden and do more work with fewer resources, likely leading to burnout.”