Is October Becoming the New August?

Remember when October workplaces were speedways toward end-of-year numbers? The determination! The commitment! Employees hunkered down for a low-distraction month of boosting sales, closing deals, and planning for next year.

This October is shaping up to be a little different, with some managers saying they’re noticing less of a driving spirit. For one, fatigue rates for workers are steeply rising: Over 82% of employees are at risk of burnout, due to a mix of financial pressure (43%), exhaustion (40%), and excessive workload (37%), according to a recent trend report. At the same time, engagement figures hit an eleven-year low earlier this year, while use of sick days has grown. “People feel emotionally and energetically depleted,” says psychologist Karen Huang, director of search assessment at Korn Ferry. 

To be sure, the month is not over, and many workers are pushing hard. But decades of scholarship show that employees work best under mild, mostly predictable stress. What 2024 has brought instead—everything from a string of disturbingly harsh weather to two wars to inflation—is upsetting staffers. So many stressors in such close proximity can exhaust psychic resources, says Huang. “The risk is that it drags into November and December, and becomes the way people are,” she says.

Leaders, of course, have long relied on October to kick off the last quarter of the year and ultimately provide a boost to year-end results. But they are feeling pressure too, with a presidential election looming and forcing many to delay key decisions. Experts say these circumstances have effectively applied the brakes on workforces trying to complete year-end projects. “We just have a lot of stagnation,” says Shanda Mints, vice president of RPO analytics and implementation at Korn Ferry. 

Indeed, certain sectors are clearly stalled. Three-quarters of retailers, for example, say that they won’t be paying bonuses as targeted this year, meaning that they’ll be missing their numbers. Over in private equity, transaction numbers have been low for 18 months, with overall deal values clocking in at roughly 50% of 2022 figures. “October feels like the dead of the desert right now,” says Barry Toren, leader of the North American Financial Officer practice at Korn Ferry. Some firms were hiring earlier this year, but now, “no one wants to do anything until post-election,” says Toren.

Experts advise leaders to bear in mind the unusually stressful environment, and not to be surprised if employees react to it. Moving deadlines, when possible, may make sense. Earlier this year, data showed employees taking a significant amount of personal time off, a trend experts say could very well continue in a normally busy month. “I’ve noticed people who are eager to extend August into October,” says Matthew Siegel, principal at Korn Ferry. 

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