Weather 
Many U.S. employees are fretting over AI-driven technology shifts, political turmoil and the state of the economy, according to a new report from Glassdoor.
Those crosscurrents have left workers feeling generally exhausted, according to the job search firm, which on Wednesday named “fatigue” as its 2025 word of the year based on how often Glassdoor users mentioned it in the company’s online forum. Glassdoor said use of the word in its online community jumped 41% in 2025, compared with the previous year.
“When we asked professionals in the spring, ‘Do you feel like events in the news are draining your energy at work?’, 78% said yes. Turns out, that exhaustion never really went away,” Glassdoor said.
Economic worries were also front and center, with many Glassdoor users expressing frustration that their paychecks have not kept pace with inflation. Mentions of “stagflation,” the economic term used to describe periods marked by high prices and weak economic growth, spiked threefold compared to last year, according to Glassdoor.
Such concerns appear to jibe with rising public concerns about the cost of food, housing and other necessities.
Chatter about AI disrupting the job landscape was also prevalent across Glassdoor’s community, the company’s survey shows. Mentions of the term “agentic” — a reference to the AI bots businesses are implementing across retail, travel and many other industry sectors — soared more than 2,200% from a year ago, as workers scrambled to learn how to use new AI tools.
Political conversations also infiltrated the workplace, with mentions of “inauguration” spiking 875% compared to 2024, according to Glassdoor.
“Other political mentions showed that even workers who preferred to avoid the topic found themselves pulled into discussions,” the firm said in its report.
