Hardworking Brits are struggling to cope with workplace pressures and are even checking their work emails as soon as they wake up on holiday, research reveals today. More than two in five (42%) UK workers admit checking work messages in the middle of conversations, while 41% do so in the bathroom and 29% while on a date. Almost half (47%) say there is no longer a clear quiet period at work, while over half (51%) say they now have less time to recover between busy periods than they used to.

This devastating insight into the state of the UK’s workforce is revealed in a study by the human resources platform HiBob. It states that 58% of employees say the pressure in their roles has increased compared to two years ago.

Almost half (49%) said they feel expected to always be available for work, and 47% feel mentally exhausted at the end of most working days. July and August used to traditionally be slower months for office-based employees and they could look forward to some relaxing time away in the sunshine.

But Censuswise, which carried out the research for HiBob, found that UK workers no longer think this is the case.

More than a third (42%) of the 2,000 workers surveyed said they were considering leaving their jobs.

The “always-on” culture extends to holidays, with 55% of workers checking their emails within minutes of waking up. And more than a quarter (27%) say failing to respond to messages outside working hours would harm their career.

Toby Hough, HiBob’s vice-president of people and culture for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, said: “We’re seeing a structural shift in how work happens – potentially the biggest since the pandemic.

“Many workers no longer feel there is a natural point where pressure eases or where they can properly switch off, while managers increasingly find themselves balancing rising performance expectations with protecting employee wellbeing. Left unaddressed, this shift poses a significant long-term risk to businesses.

“Companies therefore need to recognise that people-first cultures are performance-first cultures.

“Sustainable high performance cannot exist without the right support, recovery and trust within teams.

“Businesses now need to equip managers with the training, guidance and tools needed to lead through this new era of constant pressure and help teams perform consistently over time.”

HiBob suggests that managers are doing their best to absorb pressure. But, out of the 501 UK managers surveyed, the majority (51%) said they felt underprepared and out of their depth dealing with the scale of these challenges.

More than two-thirds (68%) said they would benefit from clearer guidance on managing high-performing teams in today’s working environment.

It has also emerged that Gen Z employees entering the workforce are experiencing what is being called AI guilt: they see AI literacy as essential to their careers but don’t feel they have clear permission to use it openly at work.

Research by Employment Hero, an AI-powered employment platform, reveals that 50% of Gen Z workers feel guilty using AI to produce work, while 52% say using AI to do parts of their job feels like cheating.

Speaking about her experience of AI guilt, university student and jobseeker Ria Kaur said: “As a Gen Z student experiencing the world of work through internships and placements, I see AI everywhere. But I also find that, in workplace situations, AI can feel like my dirty little secret.

“I think this comes from the stigma around younger generations using AI, which becomes stronger in the workplace because of the frustrating idea that Gen Z are lazy, or that we do not know what real work is. If a young person uses AI at work, it can feel like people assume they are offloading the task or taking the easy way out.

“In reality, a lot of us are using it responsibly to understand a task, prepare for a conversation or make sense of something new – but I still feel like it has to be kept hidden.”