Many employees say their wellbeing has slumped since last year. Their bosses think it's improved, a survey found.

• Most respondents to a survey said their wellbeing slumped or stayed the same since last year.
• Many reported frequently feeling exhausted, stressed, and overwhelmed, the Deloitte survey found.

The majority of employees surveyed by Deloitte for a new report said their wellbeing had either worsened or stayed the same over the past year.

C-suite executives, however, thought workers were happier, "illustrating that leaders don't have a firm grasp on how their teams are really doing," Deloitte analysts wrote in the report, released last week.

For the report, Deloitte and research firm Workplace Intelligence surveyed 1,050 C-suite executives, 1,050 managers, and 1,050 employees across the US, the UK, Canada, and Australia in March.

The survey found that 58% of respondents said their mental wellbeing was good or excellent. The figures sat at 63% for physical wellbeing, 45% for social, and 35% for financial.

"In fact, most employees say their wellbeing either worsened or stayed the same last year, and only around one-third say their health improved," the analysts wrote.

Financial wellbeing took the biggest hit, with 37% of surveyed workers saying theirs had declined over the past year amid fears of a recession, prompting people to cut back on spending.

Overall, only 36% of respondents said their physical wellbeing had improved over the past 12 months, dropping to 33% for mental wellbeing, 30% for financial, and 27% for social.

However, for each of the four categories of wellbeing — mental, physical, social, and financial — more than three-quarters of the C-suite execs surveyed said they thought their workforce's wellbeing had improved. "The C-suite doesn't realize how poorly its workers are doing," the Deloitte analysts wrote.

Many of the surveyed workers said they frequently felt negative emotions. Just over half said they always or often felt exhausted, 49% stressed, 43% overwhelmed, and 33% lonely. Nearly a third said they didn't feel like their manager cared about their wellbeing.

The pandemic caused a shift in the way people thought about their work-life balance as they assessed their priorities and what they wanted from their careers. This prompted record-high quit levels in the US as people switched jobs to work remotely, get better wages and benefits, and work more flexible hours.

Employers had to reconsider what they were offering their staff as part of the war for talent, and many boosted their wages and benefits and looked for other ways to improve workplace wellbeing.

Though the Deloitte survey didn't explore generational differences, evidence suggests wellbeing will increasingly become a workplace priority as Gen Z rises through the ranks.