The word of the year
First used online in 2002, “Rage Bait” is Oxford Word of the Year 2025 (or rather expression this year):
(n.) Online content deliberately designed to elicit anger or outrage by being frustrating, provocative, or offensive, typically posted in order to increase traffic to or engagement with a particular web page or social media account.
The tactic has definitely been working and Google trends show a growing interest, including in Canada.
In the U.S., American political consultant James Carville is calling Democrats to join in on the rage talk in an opinion piece published in The New York Times.
Earlier this year, The Globe and Mail reported about a survey highlighting the dominant “anger” in Canadian attitudes towards their neighbors south of the border.
The economic lens
The Wall Street Journal talks about “economic anger” due to the cost of living.
Affordability and the cost of living are also central to Canadians’ concerns, especially since employees’ confidence in job security and employability is declining. AI at work combined with the Canadian federal government’s efforts to reduce public sector workforce to “spend less on operations so we can invest more” are feeding worries.
While the unemployment rate fell to 6.5% in November from 6.9% in October, there is a lower perceived job security, with the share of Canadian employees who feel secure in their job falling notably in the public administration compared to November 2023, the latest available data. The deterioration was also notable in health care and social assistance and educational services.
Statistics Canada commented:
This lower sense of job security may reflect a more uncertain economic environment, industry-specific concerns with layoffs and other factors. Lower job security can negatively impact the mental health and well-being of employees.
Canadian employees also feel “less confident” about their employability. The share of employees reporting that it would be easy to find another job offering a similar salary decreased to 42.8% in November from 49.0% in November 2023. The share is lowest in the public administration (32.6%).
How should your organization engage with stakeholders, internal and external, in this age of rage?
Fairness through transparency, respect and ethics
As I mentioned in a previous newsletter, fairness has become a necessity demonstrated by the findings in a maslansky+partners report titled “The fairness factor: Earning trust in an age of rage”. When U.S. consumers were asked which values matter most, the top six were related to fairness:
- Fair: 74%
- Ethical: 72%
- Respectful: 71%
- Consistent: 69%
- Transparent: 67%
- Responsive: 65%
Make fairness verifiable
- Ethics: Let’s address the elephant in the room: a number of executives and managers are where they are because of connections. So when time comes to select whose job to eliminate first, what will the criteria be? Unclear criteria can be interpreted as favoritism or back-channel deals. That’s adding fuel to the raging fire.
- Consistency and respect: Showing how criteria were applied consistently (e.g., promotions, layoffs, resources) helps earn trust from remaining employees and equips managers to communicate with respect and demonstrate the decisions were not personal.
- When you’re transparent about your approach, you place your managers in a position to successfully conduct the difficult conversations that will need to happen. It helps your leaders and your organization earn the trust of the remaining employees.
- If your decisions and communications can’t prevent a crisis, avoid scapegoating categories of people (e.g., “workers are resisting change,” “consumers misunderstood,” etc.) and show accountability. Crises will show who you are as an organization and whether you live up to the values you claim.
Are you treating your communications as both risk management and competitive strategy?
Let’s connect for your next strategic step: yali@yperspective.ca
