2. Employee engagement

Nearly 1 in 5 workers worldwide reported being fully engaged on the job in 2024, a record high in data going back a decade. It was the third straight year that the share of engaged workers grew. The global share of engaged employees now stands at 19%, five percentage points higher than its pandemic low of 2020, when only 14% of workers reported feeling fully engaged on the job.

There are also signs of an uptick in the proportion of people worldwide who do their jobs on site every day 􀋓 up eight points from 2022 to 56% in 2024. While the share of fully engaged on-site workers has been growing steadily over the last few years, hybrid workers are still the most likely to report being fully engaged.

3. Stress

As society and the economy settle into a post-pandemic normal, workers face less uncertainty, and people have greater opportunities to find desirable jobs. This all adds up to relief from stress. We find that chronic worker stress reached a new low in 2024, declining considerably from 2023 levels.

This drop continues a trend that began after the pandemic, with fewer people each year reporting high-frequency, negative on-the-job stress. But this relief hasn’t coincided with a jump in workers classed as thriving. Bad stress is down, but too few people are finding joy on the job. Our report highlights results from across the regions, finding that people in Europe are most likely to be overloaded at work.

4. Inflation & multiple jobs

Global employment may have reached a record high in 2024, but workers in many parts of the world struggle to get by on too little income amid the high cost of living. In 2024, more than half of workers worldwide told us they were living pay cheque to pay cheque. Little wonder, then, that many people take on extra work to make ends meet. Around the globe, 23% of our survey respondents said they’re holding down two or more jobs.

The cost of living isn’t the only consideration, of course. Workers are motivated by many factors when deciding to take on extra roles 􀋓 and their reasons vary a lot with age. Employers and HR leaders will find full details in our People at Work 2025 report, spanning workforces across 34 countries.

5. Discrimination

Hiring and keeping talent is an ongoing challenge, especially when workplace discrimination gets in the way. While recruiting new staff might be relatively simple, sustaining an inclusive environment is essential for boosting engagement and productivity. Our findings show that workers who face discrimination feel less connected to their employers and are often less productive. Which makes it even more crucial for employers to tackle these issues.

Over the past three years, we find that attitudes toward discrimination have shifted in various regions. Discrimination 􀋓 whether personal or institutional 􀋓 can occur for many reasons and affect employees at all levels of a company. Our report contains the latest findings across global industries to help you better understand the impact of discrimination on employee wellbeing and organisational productivity.

6. Career barriers

Career growth isn’t only about developing on-the-job skills. It’s also about being able to see a clear path for progression.

Our study finds that many employees feel they’re limited in their options to get ahead, which directly influences their decision to quit their jobs. While some workers are satisfied in their current roles, a significant number are actively seeking more responsibility and higher pay. In fact, staff ranked ‘opportunities for career growth’ as the top reason for staying with an employer, ahead of factors like flexible work arrangements and bonus incentives.

If such opportunities aren’t provided, there’s another risk for employers beyond retention 􀋓 lower productivity. Workers who feel strongly that they need to change employers to get ahead were 2.6 times less likely to consider themselves highly productive. 

7. Artificial Intelligence

The transformative potential of AI to disrupt the workplace has been a hot topic for the last few years, and our study dives into perhaps the single most important perspective — that of workers themselves. We asked people around the world how they feel about AI, how open they are to it and whether they fear losing their jobs to the technology.

The result? In short, mixed feelings. While only one in 10 workers were scared the technology would cost them their jobs, more than 30% of employees who felt strongly that AI could replace them were actively looking or interviewing for a new job. Our findings are essential reading for employers trying to gain a clear understanding of workers — often contradictory emotions &mdashexcitement at the technology’s potential alongside apprehension over its ultimate impact.

8. Pay equity

Employees’ perceived fairness of their compensation is a crucial component of maintaining an engaged and productive workforce. And the good news is, globally, fewer workers in 2024 had gripes about their pay than over the previous two years. On the downside, staff still see big gaps in pay fairness —  especially between men and women.

Worldwide, 28% of women surveyed said they’re paid unfairly, compared to 23% of men. Our study finds that this gender gap gets worse as women get older and further along in their careers. Age, managerial level, industry and type of work also played a part in how workers felt about the fairness of their pay. Download People at Work 2025 for a full view of the markets and industries where pay equity is most contested.

9. Workplace monitoring

When remote working rapidly became commonplace during the pandemic, it altered how businesses interacted with the employees they no longer could see in person. Demand rose for software that could track keystrokes, grab computer screens and monitor mouse movements. Such surveillance practices have left their mark on the employee-employer dynamic, whether staff work on site, remotely or a mixture of the two.

Our research in 2024 finds that almost a third (32%) of employees around the world say they feel they’re constantly being watched by their employers. And depending on workers’ age, racial identity and seniority in the company, this figure can be even higher. These market-level findings are bound to interest any employer keen to explore the relationship between workers’ feeling of surveillance and their levels of both productivity and stress on the job.