In the modern American workplace, romantic metaphors have become uncomfortably literal. If you feel like your relationship with your boss is stuck in a gray area—somewhere between “committed partnership” and “just passing time”—you’re not alone. According to new insights from Glassdoor, the labor market has entered a “great job situation” period.

The term “situationship” is likely familiar to any millennial, the same group that Glassdoor previously found comprised of a most managers in the mid-2020s workplace. It’s also a dominant theme in Gen Z relationships, and has even been given mainstream status in Taylor Swift lyrics. This is something that happens before the “DTR” phase, shorthand for “defining the relationship,” and no one feels good about it.

The term is back in 2017 Cosmopolitan article describing a romantic relationship, about three months long, very painful, in which one side has more interest than the other. (As a sign of its influence Cosmopolitan Carina Hsieh’s original post has been updated continuouslywith Kayla Kibbe latest on the byline). Last fall, Glassdoor economists began applying the labor market label to describe early-career workers who are in roles simply because they need a paycheck.

“You’re in a situation that’s okay. It’s better than unemployment. But it’s not the job you want,” explained Chris Martinlead researcher at Glassdoor, in an interview with luck. He described it as “better than nothing, but not what you hope for or what you want.”

Martin highlighted the findings, which were mostly in line with his expectations but he was still shocked by the extent of the distress in the work situation. A staggering 93% of workers admitted to staying in jobs they didn’t love just for stability, while 63% described their work relationship as “complicated” or said they were “ready to break up.” Another 74% of workers say they believe it will be impossible to love any job in 2026.

There are even findings of toxicity. Some workers, called “career nesters” or “job huggers” by Glassdoor, choose to stay and try to “fall back in love” with their roles. The data shows that 28% of workers who gave a negative review ended up rating the same employer more positively 12 to 24 months later.

Glassdoor’s research strongly suggests that millennial managers may be the problem. The modern workplace has a strong flavor of bad management, with bad leadership quickly turning what started as a good job into a bad job, with burnout and heavy workloads soon after. Martin said what he sees happening is a combination of millennials moving into a different stage of life because the labor market is also shrinking. From a generational perspective, he added, “Gen X going through it too and we don’t really care because no one asks Gen X what they think or cares about it, right?

Caught in a bad romance

Martin refused to say if he personally related to the theme of the situation, saying that “no one wants to hear about the romantic life of an economist,” but he said that he thinks that many people can relate to this theme of dissatisfaction. “So you can interview for a job and everything seems fine. And then when you get there, you realize that the job is not quite what you expected, or maybe your job changes over time and kind of morphs into something you don’t like. He said that he thinks there are many ways that people end up in roles that are not what they expected.

There is evidence in the data that the American workforce is caught in a bad romance. David Kellychief global strategist at JP Morgan Asset Management, argued earlier this week that the economy is a mix of “soggy consumption, weak job gains and a sour public mood,” citing slumping auto sales, travel spending and other signs of a struggling real economy amid a booming stock market. Albert Edwards, the global strategist of Société Généralenoted a few days earlier that the household savings rate had collapsed to 3.5%, the lowest since before the Great Financial Crisis. Calling that “big news,” he wrote in his global stategy, “that’s nuts!”

“When you step into a management role… you’re at a different stage in life and the way you feel about your job and the way you relate to yourself at work will change,” said the Glassdoor economist. Martin also pushes the millennial framing a bit, asking if this sense of situation predates the 2017 article that gave it its name. “Are these normal things that happen in our work relationships as we get older and we age into management or leadership positions?” It’s worth asking that question, he said.

“In a hot market, work can feel a lot more fun when your company has to go out of their way to keep you,” says Martin. But when options disappear, reality sets in: “Work starts to feel more like work and less like fun.”

However, what’s different is the unusual hiring pullback through most of 2025 and into 2026, trapping many workers in roles they will leave. Glassdoor has consistently found the job market described as “frozen,” characterized by low hiring rates and low firing rates. While unemployment remains low, the ability to quickly jump from one job to another has dried up.

In terms of ways to change this, Martin says one of the big takeaways is: just find a new job. “That’s your best shot at turning a bad work relationship into a good work relationship.” If you’ve been counseling a friend about your love life and seeing these results, Martin added, “I’d just tell them to break up.” That’s not possible for most people in what Martin says is still a “low-hire, low-fire” economy. “Unfortunately, most of us are not in a position to break up our work without another line,” said Martin, adding that he also does not recommend approaching romance that way. “And so that’s where I think the analogy breaks down.”