Fewer UK workers willing to go the extra mile, report finds

A decade-long fall in workers’ willingness to make extra effort at work may be contributing to weak UK productivity growth, a Resolution Foundation report says, though it does not establish that “quiet quitting” is the cause.

The share of surveyed adults who said they were willing to go the extra mile for their employer fell from 69% in 2015 to 55% in 2025, according to the thinktank’s survey of 4,656 people. The report also found that one in four respondents were not even fairly satisfied with their jobs, the lowest level recorded, while the proportion who said their job was interesting declined from 74% to 63%.

The Resolution Foundation said the results were consistent with the idea of quiet quitting: doing what a job requires but not taking on extra tasks or work outside contracted hours. It said the change in workers’ attitudes over the past decade may have contributed to weak productivity growth, which slowed after the financial crisis and weakened again after the pandemic.

The report does not say workers have become more reluctant to change jobs or that young people have become more work-shy. Sir John Curtice, a politics professor and co-editor of the report, said employers may need to offer work that is both financially rewarding and flexible to keep workers engaged.

Hannah Slaughter, the foundation’s principal economist, said lower engagement was bad for workers and could weigh on productivity and labour supply, both important to improving living standards. The report also noted that workers had become more focused on pay, which it described as unsurprising given the flatlining of living standards over the past decade.