2024 had its highs and lows. Whether it was a total eclipse, the presidential election, or the biggest rap battle of this decade (so far) between Drake and Kendrick Lamar — this year had enough drama and excitement for everyone. In the workplace, companies continued bringing employees back to the office despite their wishes to remain remote. And, many Gen Z and millennial workers overcame their fears of AI by fully embracing tools like ChatGPT as part of their daily routines.
To put it plainly, this year was a whirlwind of events that sparked debate and had workers taking sides on many topics. It’s only fitting that Glassdoor’s word of the year for 2024 is “divisive.”
Here’s the rundown on what career professionals cared about and discussed in 2024 the most in communities on Glassdoor.
Word of the year: Divisive
“Divisive” landing as this year’s word of the year stemmed from many topics that led workers to be at odds with one another throughout 2024. The main root causes? Frustration in the job search process or discussions around current events. With a word like “divisive” landing the top spot, we wanted to focus on what terms sparked the most incendiary conversations. To dig deeper, we looked at frequent words associated with divisiveness and found the most mentions of “election,” “ageism,” and “ghosting”, among others.
- Mentions of “divisive” itself grew 33% in 2024. These stemmed from a range of issues including election concerns, toxic workplaces, and shifts in company stances on DEI initiatives.
- From economic uncertainty to layoffs, many professionals (im)patiently awaited the results of the presidential election all year and didn’t shy away from discussing politics at work. Mentions of “election” saw the biggest jump among terms we analyzed, rising by 202%.
- Mentions of “ageism” saw the second biggest area of growth, increasing by 74%. We saw older workers cautioning others about the potential for ageism. In addition, many more seasoned professionals considering quitting their jobs or taking long breaks from work feared facing ageism upon their attempt to return.
- More positively, some workers began to embrace AI and engage in healthy dialogue around the use of it. But the reviews on its future were still mixed — some are still weary of it, but the “AI is coming for our jobs” fears seemed to have lessened. Mentions of “AI” grew by 42%.
- We continued to see a remote vs. in-office battle between employers and employees, but not as great as in 2023 (476% increase from 2022). However, the numbers show professionals are not backing down from “RTO” (return to office) conversations, as mentions rose 7% in 2024. Many workers even expressed forgoing a promotion if it meant returning to the office.
- Situations where either employers or employees ghosted (abruptly cut off communication), gained significant traction in 2024, signaling a shift in professional engagement norms and often frustrating workers while job searching. Mentions of “ghosting” grew by 46%.
Conversations reflected the state of the market
This year’s Glassdoor Community conversations often tackled worklife challenges that aligned with the ups and downs of the job market. From angst around layoffs to trouble with setting boundaries and adjusting to new roles, workers divulged the smallest and biggest details of their career journeys.
Buzzwords from TikTok trends, like “demure,” saw an astronomical amount of mentions (1707% increase), and “Olympics” saw its fair share of chatter (191% increase). Here’s an example of the wide range of topics across various communities on Glassdoor where we saw a significant jump in interest among professionals in 2024.
Check out the full conversations behind the most engaging posts:
- A worker offers advice on landing a job after 145 applications
- Someone’s old boss threatens to contact their new job
- An employee gets a bad performance review for setting boundaries
- A professional shares helpful tips for addressing resume gaps
- A lack of work has an employee feeling stuck
Community polls uncovered workplace challenges
Glassdoor’s community polls took a deeper dive into topics that blended work with life — like sizing up dating against interviewing and the benefits of working remotely. These topics double-clicked into the biggest headlines, such as ghosting and return to work, and they often revealed new challenges for workers. Here’s what we discovered:
- Is dating more exhausting than interviewing? When asked, 56% of women professionals said yes, while only 43% of men said the same. (This poll ran from February 5, 2024 through February 9, 2024.)
- When we asked workers, “Do you believe you are paid fairly for the work you do?” the pay equity gap was quickly magnified. 66% of female professionals said they do not believe they’re being paid fairly for the work they do, compared to 59% of male professionals. (This poll ran from February 13, 2024 through February 20, 2024.)
- While 19% of professionals said they already work remotely, when asked, a whopping 69% said they’d prefer it. The benefits of working remotely were especially fruitful for women and working parents. (This poll ran from June 13, 2024 through June 15, 2024)
- We asked workers “Do you get anxious about your workload before returning from PTO?” The response was a resounding yes, by 77% of respondents. The psychology behind dreading a return from PTO helps explain why. (This poll ran from July 9, 2024 through July 12, 2024)
- “Ghosting” happened well before Halloween for workers trying to navigate their daunting (and haunting) job search. The phenomenon mirrored frustrations experienced in the dating world, as candidates often felt left in the dark. An overwhelming number of workers, 87%, said ghosting is not acceptable in the interview process, but 13% were okay with it. (This poll ran from September 10, 2024 through September 12, 2024)
- Professionals were asked, “Given the state of the market, do you feel stuck in your career?” 65% said yes, 22% said no. The rest were unsure. This defined one of our biggest worklife trends to watch in the new year and prompted us to look into the “why” behind feeling stuck at work. (This poll ran from October 15, 2024 through October 18, 2024)
The Lonely Office said what workers were thinking
The Lonely Office podcast hosts talked about the increasingly blurry line between work and life. Each episode is based on real stories sourced firsthand from anonymous conversations — and they aren’t afraid to say what workers are thinking, out loud. Here are some of the most-played episodes of 2024.
How to Get Fired and Negotiate Severance
Stop the Job Search & Start a Company
Is the Job Hopping Party Over?
Evolution of Resumes in the Age of Algorithms
Should Job Candidates Be Paid for Interview Projects?
Methodology: The percentage growth statistics cited are the percentage change in the use of terms in posts or comments on communities on Glassdoor in the U.S. in 2024 vs. 2023 (normalized by the total number of posts/comments). Data for 2024 is up to date through November 18, 2024.