When Distress Wears a Disguise
We all know employees are under massive pressure now. Yesterday’s October 2025 Challenger Report shows more than 1 million jobs lost this year, an increase of 65% from the first ten months of last year. 153,074 jobs were cut in October, the highest October number since 2003.
People may not know the stats, but they live the results: more work being done by fewer people, the double-edged sword of AI helping them do their jobs while in some cases helping to eliminate them, the relentless drumbeat of higher expectations, always-on work culture, the anxiety that their jobs could be the next to go, and the burden of trying to handle it all while pretending life is normal. It is anything but.
In this era of maximum uncertainty and anxiety, quiet quitting, the wave that began during the pandemic as people, especially millennials and Gen Z, began to define and prioritize what it meant to live their values, has given way to quiet cracking, the erosion of workplace satisfaction from within. Unlike quiet quitting, it doesn’t show up in performance metrics immediately, but it’s just as dangerous.
This new report, Korn Ferry Insights: Quiet Cracking, details the harm. Quiet cracking is that feeling of disconnection, of not being seen, heard, or supported with growth or learning opportunities. Over time, it leads to disengagement, decreased productivity, and eventually, attrition. Gallup reports that disengaged employees are costing the global economy $8.8 trillion a year — that’s nearly 9% of total GDP lost to unhappiness at work.
54% of employees experience some level of quiet cracking, compared with 47% or fewer who rarely or never feel this way.
For employees who say they are experiencing quiet cracking, 47% say managers do not listen to their concerns. This shows a direct correlation between poor management and persistent unhappiness.
The importance of human-centered leadership is both evergreen and urgent. Leading with empathy to create connected cultures in which everyone feels seen, heard and valued is and always will be critical to multiple dimensions of corporate success.