The Workers' satisfaction Report from ManpowerGroup reveals reflective information about the gap between workers' expectations and the current response capacity of businesses.
The current employee satisfaction index at 68% (up 1 point compared to last year) was based on feedback from more than 13,700 employees in 19 countries.
Stress increases, cohesion decreases
According to Manpower, although 82% of workers find meaning in their work, nearly half (49%) still experience daily stress. Gen Z and middle-level management are the two most stressed groups (56% and 82%).
The feeling of harmony with the values of the enterprise of frontline employees is recorded at the lowest level, increasing work pressure for these workers. All of these figures explain more clearly why workers confidently want to quit: meaningful work is not enough to compensate for exhaustion - especially when there is a lack of development and support opportunities.
"stuck" mid-level and class management
Manpower pointed out that 34% of mid-level managers are worried about job losses within the next 6 months due to restructuring trends or the impact of AI. 77% see economic instability, restructuring and AI as their biggest concerns in their careers.
On the other hand, more and more workers trust the leadership level (an increase of 4 points compared to 2024), unintentionally creating more burden for managers who have to support employee development while they themselves are feeling unstable.
Career development - a "measure" of trust
Data shows a close link between the level of investment in career development and the ability to retain human resources.
Employees with many opportunities to develop their careers or have a clear promotion roadmap demonstrate confidence and a higher level of job satisfaction than last year.
However, the quality of training programs - especially in AI skills - is still a weakness of many businesses. While about a third of employers realized that AI cannot replace human skills such as ethical assessment (33%), customer service (31%) and team management (30%), many organizations still struggled to provide the AI skills training program that workers today look forward to.
