Gone are the days when, if you hated your job, you’d get together furtively with colleagues in the staffroom or have a vent over a few drinks after work.
Nowadays, you can tell the whole world–or at least whoever follows you on social media, because tech means that today, job dissatisfaction is an open conversation for anyone to join.
We took a deep dive into 50,000 TikTok posts to find out which US cities have the most disgruntled and frustrated employees. Read on for some further insights.
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Key takeaways
Industries at the core of discontent
Long hours and high stress can quickly result in high levels of workplace dissatisfaction, and many of the cities highlighted in our study are home to industries that are notorious for both, such as healthcare (Memphis, TN), hospitality (Orlando, FL), and tech (San Francisco, CA).
To make matters worse, as well as these sectors being highly demanding, opportunities for advancement within them are often limited, which can then make workers feel stuck and as if there are no alternatives.
The cost of living impact
The higher the cost of living in a city, particularly Hartford, CT, and San Francisco, CA, the higher the level of dissatisfaction.
If you’re not being paid that much in the first place, or your income doesn’t go far enough to cover even the basics, even a moderately stressful job can feel unbearable.
The issue here isn’t just about the work, it’s about how pressurized and thankless it can be to try and survive in an expensive environment.
The role of smaller cities
You’d think that working in a smaller city, like Lubbock, TX, and Jackson, MS would make things easier: not so much time stuck in traffic on the commute, a cheaper cost of living, your money going a little bit further….but alas, workers in these kinds of places are also unhappy.
With a smaller population comes fewer job opportunities, meaning that workers can often feel trapped in their roles, and can’t find any better options that match their skills and ambitions.
Toxic culture and bad management
Some of the most dominant hashtags include “Bad Boss” and “Toxic Workplace”.
When the rot starts from the top, it trickles down to every single level, and workers are starting to call out poor leadership and negative work cultures.
A toxic workplace has an effect on all parts of its workforce, draining energy, but also eroding morale and creativity, making it almost impossible for workers to stay engaged or care about their job.
The bright side: shared experiences and empowerment
Social media has, at least, served to unite dissatisfied workers, who are discovering they are far from alone in their struggles and what they are having to put up with.
It could work as a powerful tool for collective power, meaning that online unity and shared grievances could be the spark needed to push for real change, and even shape the future of workplace reform.
Final thoughts: the road to change
The list of workplace complaints is, in many ways, the same as it has been over the past few decades: long hours, poor management, limited opportunities, and in some cases, high costs of living.
But the difference is that now, dissatisfied workers have a real voice (let’s not forget that the HR department of any firm works to help the employers, rather than the employees).
But the outcome of all this outcry needn’t be negative: it can be a wake-up call for employers who are, finally, being forced to listen to their workforce.
To retain talent, you need to treat them properly, and bosses need to take action by addressing toxic cultures, offering better work-life balance, and providing career advancement opportunities.
This increase in transparency about life in the workplace may well encourage companies to evolve, if only because having the general public know about their faults and defects should shame them into doing so.
As ever, workers with a collective voice can achieve real results, and in this instance, they’re more than ready for change.
Methodology
A targeted search was conducted across TikTok using five specific hashtags directly related to workplace dissatisfaction: #HateMyJob, #Burnout, #WorkSucks, #BadBoss, and #ToxicWorkplace.
A dataset of 50,000 publicly available TikTok posts was compiled. Posts were filtered to ensure relevance, focusing on original content where users described their own work experiences rather than reposts or purely meme content.
Posts were geotagged or, when geotagging was unavailable, associated with a location based on contextual clues within the content or user profile information. Only posts with clear geographic attribution were included in the final analysis.
