A new survey of 1,002 workers by resume-tool company Kickresume found that 87% put on an "everything's great!" face at work. And 86% faked more enthusiasm than they actually felt at least once in the last week alone. 11% said they do it constantly.
The kicker? Even the happy employees are acting.
80% of people who rated their job a perfect 5/5 still faked enthusiasm that week.
Welcome to the modern workplace. We don't hate our jobs. We just perform them.
Most People Don't Hate Their Job. They Just Don't Love It Either.
Kickresume expected to find out if people hate work. They didn't.
* **27%** dislike or hate their job
* **38%** feel totally neutral - the biggest group
* **35%** like or love it
So why the acting? Because "How's it going?" only has one acceptable answer.
Hate was highest in sales & retail (38%), finance (35%), and marketing (33%). Lowest in education (20%) and creative fields (18%).
And 51% said they're still proud to tell people where they work - including a quarter of the people who dislike their job.
Who Are We Faking It For?
When asked who the performance is for:
* **28%** - Everyone equally
* **18%** - Clients / customers
* **16%** - The boss
* **13%** - Coworkers
* **13%** - Themselves
Americans fake it the most. 45% of US workers said they fake enthusiasm most days or constantly, vs 35% in Asia and 30% in Europe.
The Silent Quitting Problem
Unhappy workers aren't complaining. They're just... not telling you.
* **37%** of people who dislike their job haven't told a SINGLE person at work
* Only **9%** have told their boss
* Women are even less likely to tell the boss: 3% vs 12% of men
"The workers most likely to leave are often the ones who've stopped telling you anything," said Kickresume CEO Peter Duris.
Dread Is The New Normal
* **43%** feel dread before a workday at least a few times a week
* **16%** feel it EVERY single workday
* Gen Z feels it most: 51% dread work regularly
* Even 23% of people who *like* their job still dread it
And they're already halfway out the door:
* **66%** seriously considered quitting in the last 6 months - including 42% of people who like their job
* **82%** did job-hunting tasks *on company time* - 55% updated their CV/LinkedIn, 44% applied, 26% took an interview call at work
Why stay? Why leave? Same answer: Money.
Pay was the #1 reason to stay (25%) and the #1 reason to leave (24%). Only 7% stay for fulfillment. For unhappy workers, the top reason to leave was a bad manager (21%).
When asked: "Would you keep your job if you won enough money to never work again?"
* 45% would quit immediately
* 34% would stay but cut hours
* Only 21% would keep it as-is
* Even among perfect 5/5 raters, less than half (48%) would stay unchanged
The 6 Types Of Modern Workers
Kickresume broke the workforce into personas:
**1. The Performer (37%)** - Fakes enthusiasm most days. Half of them dread work weekly.
**2. The Undercover Job Hunter (26%)** - Rates the job 4 or 5, but is job hunting on the clock anyway.
**3. The Stuck (20%)** - Staying only because "nothing better has come up."
**4. The Silent Sufferer (10%)** - Hates the job, tells no one.
**5. The Daily Dreader (16%)** - Dreads every single workday.
**6. The Genuinely Happy (13%)** - The only ones NOT faking it.
Gen X is getting hit hardest. Workers 46-61 were most likely to dislike their job (34%), most likely to say they'd quit if they could (53%), and 44% of unhappy Gen Xers haven't told anyone at work.
An upbeat office is a terrible metric.
That employee who rates their job a 3, smiles in every meeting, and updates LinkedIn on lunch? From your chair, they're fine.
According to this data, they're probably already interviewing.