More than one in three workers are now too exhausted to engage in leisure activities, driven not just by workload but by a pervasive sense that their jobs lack meaning.
A new study from the University of Zurich highlights how the absence of purpose in professional life is eroding employee well-being and productivity across Europe.
The findings arrive as labor markets in the region face mounting pressure from industrial action.
In Germany, public sector strikes have escalated, forcing the Social Democratic Party (SPD) to confront intensifying political backlash.
The unrest has disrupted critical services, including forcing Germany’s public broadcasting network to air limited emergency editions of its flagship Tagesschau news program.
While the Zurich research focuses on the psychological toll of "bullshit jobs" — roles perceived as objectively pointless — the practical outcome mirrors the grievances fueling current strikes: workers are pushing back against systems that demand high effort without delivering perceived value or autonomy.