Many workers aren’t happy with their jobs, and their limited options to find a new one are contributing to an era Gallup is calling “The Great Detachment,” according to a new report from the workplace advisory firm.

The share of Americans watching for or actively seeking a new job has ticked up to 51% today, compared with 45% in 2020.

Meanwhile, Americans’ happiness at work has eroded: just 18% are extremely satisfied with their jobs today, down from 26% pre-pandemic.

Gallup researchers point to a few big factors why Americans aren’t happy with their jobs today, and what could actually change things.

In the last four years, many companies have undergone dramatic changes in their workforce: layoffs at the onset of the pandemic, rehiring when the economy rebounded, elevated turnover during the Great Resignation, and now, slowed hiring due in part to stock market volatility and high inflation.

Today, 7 in 10 workers say their organization has been disrupted in the past year, according to Gallup, and it’s led to team restructures, people getting more responsibilities added to their jobs, and budget cuts.

Plus, workplaces are still feeling the growing pains of hybrid and remote work.

Studies on whether remote work helps or hinders productivity are mixed, but a few things are clear: workers want the option to work remotely more than their company allows, and strict return-to-office mandates can lead to frustration and turnover.

That said, fully remote workers are less connected to their organization’s mission or purpose compared with hybrid peers, according to Gallup, which can fuel discontentment and quitting.

Another big pain point is that employees have different expectations of their workplace compared with pre-pandemic norms.

“Work-life balance and better compensation packages became more important to employees, along with expectations for remote work flexibility,” Gallup researchers write. “A mismatch between what employees expect and what employers offer can leave employees feeling undervalued and questioning their future.”

Employees may also be facing new pressures among the clients and customers they serve. A majority, 56%, of workers say they’ve noticed changes in customer expectations since the pandemic, according to Gallup, with many workers reporting that customers are more demanding today than prior to the pandemic.

Team restructures and layoffs have disproportionately impacted middle management, giving them more work with fewer resources. At the same time, leaders have little confidence in their performance management systems, according to Gallup.

That means organizations don’t have a reliable way to clarify expectations, recognize good performance and develop employees.

These factors contribute to workers feeling like they don’t know what’s expected of them at work, or that they have a meaningful impact on or connection to the company’s success, both of which are crucial to feeling fulfilled at work, according to Gallup.

Just 45% of workers say they know what’s expected of them at work, and 30% feel the mission of their company makes them feel like their job is important — at or near series lows since 2007.

Younger workers, new employees, hybrid workers and white-collar professionals are most likely to report they don’t have clear expectations for their jobs. And connection is low among younger employees, fully remote workers and front-line workers.

Gallup researchers say one of the most important solutions to make workers feel more satisfied at work is to give them clear expectations. Clear expectations are collaboratively set, aligned with the team’s bigger goals, regularly discussed, and considered alongside workload and well-being.

Companies should also do a better job connecting each person’s job with the mission of their company, Gallup researchers add.

Leaders play a role in this by clarifying and modeling the mission and values of the business, helping employees see how they contribute to something bigger, asking employees to share what makes them proud of their work, and ensuring the employee experience aligns with the company’s values.

Ultimately, Gallup says, companies that work on these two factors can build a stronger employer brand where people want to work and succeed.

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Building and launching rockets into space can require around-the-clock attention. Just ask Peter Beck.

Beck, the founder and CEO of Long Beach, California-based aerospace company Rocket Lab, typically works 12-hour to 20-hour days, especially during busy periods leading up to rocket launches, a company spokesperson says. That time commitment makes striking a healthy balance between work and a personal life difficult, says Beck, 47.

″[I’m] not winning any awards for any of that,” Beck says. “That is for sure.”

Beck started Rocket Lab in 2006 with no college degree and few industry connections. Over nearly two decades, he’s built it into a $12.93 billion business, as of Wednesday morning. The company’s success contributes largely to Beck’s net worth — $1.3 billion, Forbes estimated last month.

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During his busiest workdays, Beck employs “workarounds” to spend time with his family, he says. He typically goes home for dinner with his family, and then heads back to the office — or logs onto his computer from home — to keep working “late into the night,” he says.

“I try and have dinner with the kids, for sure. There’s little things like that,” Beck says. “If I’m traveling overseas [for work], we’ll try as best we can to time it for school holidays so the family can come with [me].”

Beck also calls himself a “chronic workaholic” and “paranoid about everything.” He rises each morning before 5 a.m. and spends the bulk of his days at the office fretting over his business and the technical aspects of each rocket his company launches into space, he says.

“That’s just what it takes,” says Beck. “That’s just the gig.”

Many startup founders report working long hours and stressing over details. Beck’s industry comes with an additional degree of difficulty: Each rocket launch could result in a potentially dangerous catastrophe.

“It’s either right or it’s international news, one of those two outcomes,” says Beck. “So you’d best be checking [every] thing three or four times.”

Rocket Lab operates launch pads in both New Zealand and the U.S., and launches sometimes have to wait until weather conditions are perfect and all safety checks are completed — meaning Beck has to be available at all hours. That means some sleepless nights and less time spent with his family than he’d like, Beck says.

Beck’s situation is perhaps an extreme version of a relatable challenge: Many working parents struggle to schedule extra time for themselves and their families. Achieving a perfect balance is generally unrealistic and an added source of stress, Jackie Bowie, a managing partner at financial risk management firm Chatham Financial, told CNBC’s “My Biggest Lessons” last year.

“If you’re doing something that’s really worthwhile to you, and you enjoy it, you just accept that sometimes it’s going to be really hard work and you have to make sacrifices,” Bowie said.

Todd Graves, co-founder and CEO of restaurant chain Raising Cane’s, “had to miss a lot of stuff” in his personal life while building his business into a multibillion-dollar company, he told CNBC Make It last month.

At times, Graves’ wife brought their kids to his office so the family could play and eat dinner together before he returned to his work. On vacations, Graves has woken up at 4:30 a.m. to work, so he could join his family for leisure time during everyone else’s waking hours, he said.

“I’m as busy as anybody I know, I travel as much as anybody I know, but I can work my schedule where I can make most of the things I need to be at with kids, family or important friends,” said Graves.

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More than a third (36%) of Americans have a side hustle outside of their main moneymaking gig, according to a June 2024 Bankrate survey of 2,332 US adults. Gen Zers lead the pack, with nearly half (48%) of them having a side hustle.  

If you’re one of those already earning that extra money and are looking for new sources of revenue — or if you’re new to the game and want to start a side hustle for the first time, 2025 could offer some good opportunities.

Here are four side hustles to consider that experts say will be in demand.

Businesses increasingly find their consumers online via their websites or social media. For those artsy side hustlers who want to lean into their graphic design abilities, consider creating graphic templates for websites and social media and selling them on sites like Canva and Etsy.

For local and small businesses, “whether it’s blogging or Tiktok or Instagram or LinkedIn or YouTube or their website,” says Angelique Rewers, CEO of small business consulting firm BoldHaus, “the amount of graphic templates that are needed given the volume of content that people are creating and pushing out into the world today is insane.” Buying templates that are easy to use makes that process much swifter.

Prices vary depending on the template and number of offerings within a package. One social media template package on Etsy is going for $72. Note that Etsy charges 20 cents per listing uploaded plus a 6.5% transaction fee based on the price of your item.

Similarly, small business owners need help creating the written content on their social media platforms. That’s where AI content creators come in.

They take the business’s content, “whether a video of me presenting at a conference, or a YouTube video that I’ve done, or a media interview that I’ve been quoted in, or blog articles that I’ve written,” says Rewers, “and take all of my existing content and start running it through AI tools like Jasper, Claude, ChatGPT and creating a mountain of new, fresh content” to use across social media accounts, LinkedIn, newsletters, etc.

You don’t have to be a professional wordsmith to do this kind of work, says Rewers, because these tools can help ensure correct grammar and cohesive sentences.

Get familiar with the tools Rewers listed and offer your services on sites like Fiverr, Upwork and LinkedIn. AI content creators on Upwork are charging as much as $200 per hour.

Podcasts are on the rise. As many as 141 million Americans are projected to listen to podcasts in 2025, up from 135.4 million in 2024, according to eMarketer. And those making them need help.

As such, “being a podcast assistant is a huge opportunity,” says Rewers. Podcast assistant can mean finding and booking guests, editing recordings of shows, publicizing using various social media platforms. This role can also be called podcast manager, podcast producer or podcast editor, if they focus on that technical component.

As of the last few years, “most podcasters are starting with video,” says Nicaila Okome, host of the “Side Hustle Pro” podcast. They now post their shows on sites like YouTube to add a visual element. Many need help editing their videos now as well.

Depending on how you’d like to help, post your podcast skills on sites like Fiverr, Upwork, LinkedIn and on relevant Facebook groups for podcast creators. One podcast producer is charging up to $500 per project on Fiverr.

The short-term rental market is expected to grow 11.4% between 2025 and 2030, according to Grand View Research. That includes rentals on sites like Airbnb and Vrbo.

“One thing that’s really going to be big next year is the opportunity for folks who want to help manage those rentals,” says Rewers, “whether they want it to be a remote opportunity, meaning they can do it from anywhere, or they want a side hustle that they can do locally.”

These managers handle booking and communication with guests, for example, or scheduling any maintenance the place needs like cleaners or plumbers.

Try reaching out to people renting out their properties directly and offering your services, or going on local Facebook or Nextdoor groups to spread the word that you’re interested in managing short-term rentals.

Payment varies. “Here in South Florida, we’re seeing folks do it on a percentage basis of what they’re booking,” says Rewers, adding that they’re also seeing neighbors pay “as much as $35 an hour for someone to stop by to check on the plumber.”

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At 82, self-made billionaire Jack Cowin has a number of simple truths about life and business to share.

“I didn’t come from [money] … I’m kind of self-made. I use that terminology and I’m proud of that,” Cowin told CNBC Make It.

He’s made a fortune from selling fast food. In 1969, he bought his first KFC store in Australia, which eventually grew into a 55-store franchise. He then sold it for over $71 million in 2013, according to a company representative.

Cowin is also the founder and chairman of Competitive Foods Australia, the company that operates Burger King as “Hungry Jack’s” in Australia — a chain of more than 400 restaurants today. He’s also the biggest shareholder of Domino’s Pizza in Australia, and backs a plant-based meat substitute company called v2food.

His business is worth over $3 billion and brings in over $300 million a year, Cowin told CNBC Make It.

Before starting his fast food empire, Cowin played football in university and even had a “brief flirtation” with playing professionally. “Business is a team sport,” he said.

“Don’t be a dentist … when you’re not drilling teeth, you’re not making money,” Cowin told CNBC Make It. “If you want to do something [that] is bigger and has more scope, you have to become a team player and … to become a team player, you got to interact with people,” he said.

“Be conscious of the fact that you cannot do it on your own,” said Cowin.

Business isn’t just about satisfying your own needs — it’s also about fulfilling what others need, whether they’re employees, customers, investors or business partners. Being a “people person” and having an innate curiosity and desire to learn has been key to his success, he said.

When asked to give advice to young people who may be feeling lost in life, Cowin said, “The short answer is — if you’re lost, get active with something.”

“I see people that get fired or something goes wrong in their life. They sit on the sidelines and they lose confidence … you got to be in the game to be successful,” he said.

After spending some time reflecting, it’s important not to get stuck in a cycle of moping: “You got to get back into the mainstream of life by doing stuff, interacting with people,” he said. “Have a go, don’t stand around thinking about it.”

Today, Cowin says, he has created about 150,000 jobs globally between his Domino’s Pizza business — which consists of 4,000 stores across 12 countries — and his Hungry Jack’s business.

At 82, he says, he has no plans to exit the business.

“If there was a summary of my life, I’ve looked on it as an adventure, rather than slogging it out day after day,” he said. “It’s been an adventure [of] doing new things, new businesses, new this, new that, and it’s been fun.”

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Nora Curl has a long history with antiques — both as an appraiser and as an appreciator.

The 52-year-old went antique shopping with her parents as a kid. She studied connoisseurship in fine and decorative arts at Christie’s postgraduate program then went on to work in magazines, the gallery space and as artist Nelson Shanks’ assistant.

In 2012, she started working on JustAnswer doing online valuations of antiques. The site lets users ask a range of experts, like lawyers and veterinarians, relevant questions, with experts getting paid per answer they give. Curl quickly started making money on the site and now works on it seven days per week, about three to four hours per day, averaging five questions per hour, she says.

In 2022, she made six figures on the site. In 2024, she made as much as $8,700 per month.

When it comes to career advice Curl would give anyone looking to find success in 2025, it’s to find “that one niche that really keeps you going and earns money.”

Curl’s old boss from Fine Art Connoisseur magazine gave her the same advice a decade ago. “You need to find one thing,” she says he told her, “one lane that you enjoy and that you’re good at, and that one lane that makes you the most money.”

It took a while for Curl to heed his words. In the meantime, she tried buying and selling antiques online and doing appraisals on multiple platforms. But “I was spreading myself thin,” she says. And she quickly realized where she was making the most.

Sending out a package of an item she sold for $30 on eBay took time. Meanwhile, she thought, “I just missed 10 questions that came in [on JustAnswer] and I could’ve made well over $100.”

“I got that advice in 2014,” she says about focusing on one lane. “I didn’t take it till 2017.”

When it comes to figuring out your own best moneymaking avenue, Curl recommends starting with some trial and error.

“I think trying a lot of things and making a lot of mistakes and learning lessons is part of how you get to success,” she says. It was trying all of those different websites that helped her home in on JustAnswer as the best path forward. Many successful entrepreneurs go through similar periods of trial and error.

Once you do narrow in on that promising, well-paid gig, the only step left, says Curl, is to “have the bravery and the willingness to drop everything else.”

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