State of the Workplace
In the State of the Workplace 2025, TriNet identifies unique insights into both employer and employee perspectives on hot ticket workplace items like work/life balance satisfaction, employee engagement, AI usage, benefits understanding and ease of use.
By understanding both perspectives, employers can gain unique insights into potential blind spots they might have had about their workforce, while employees can learn how leadership in the small and mid-sized business community generally feel on certain topics.
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Satisfaction
Employers and employees both see gains in overall work life balance satisfaction. 89% of employers report some level of satisfaction, up from 87% last year, and employees also saw a 2% increase to 77% in 2025.
Is Work/Life Balance Now a Generational Divide?
Data reveals more varied experiences between younger employees and older employers.
- Baby Boomer employers see the largest satisfaction gain, with over 90% reporting some level of satisfaction with their work life balance, an increase of 16%.
- On the opposite end, Gen Z employees have the largest decrease in work life balance satisfaction, dropping 5 points with just 63% reporting some level of satisfaction this year.
Engagement
Employer confidence is at an all time high. 100% of employers surveyed are confident that their employees have some level of engagement, increasing 1% from last year. At a high level, employees agree, with 99% reporting at least some level of engagement both years.
Boomer Optimism, Gen Z Reality: Who's Really Engaged at Work?
When viewed through a generational lens, employers consistently overestimate employee engagement. Employers believe more employees are “Extremely Engaged,” with Baby Boomer employers showing the most dramatic +30 pt swing to 46% this year.
The engagement disconnect between generations is most pronounced among Gen Z: 42% of Gen Z employers believe their employees are “Extremely Engaged,” but only 33% of Gen Z employees agree. Millennials employees continue to report the highest engagement across both years, with 96% expressing some level of engagement, down 2% from 2024.
Knowledge
Employers and employees are finally finding common ground on the importance of AI expertise. 36% of employees identified role-related AI skills as essential—up from just 23% last year—and employers' emphasis also climbed to 38% (+10pts YoY). This alignment places AI alongside long-standing priorities like leadership (47% employees, 54% employers) and creativity (40% employees, 55% employers), signaling that both sides now see AI fluency as a core capability, not a niche add-on.
Empowerment
Employers rate empowerment factors higher in 2025 compared to 2024, while employees rate many of the same factors lower year over year. Employers see the biggest improvements in mentorship (+11% to 40% in 2025) and autonomy over time (+9% to 42% in 2025), but employees report declines; mentorship is down –3% to 32% and autonomy is down –7% to 27%.
Benefits
Employers are elevating the priority of mental health support, with strong growth in the “Extremely Important” category (37% in 2025 from 28% in 2024) and declines elsewhere, signaling broader recognition of its significance.
Employees also place increasing emphasis on mental health support, with growth across both “Extremely” (43% in 2025, 39% in 2024) and “Moderately Important” (33% in 2025, 31% in 2024) ratings, and a notable boost in the “Somewhat Important” category (22% in 2025, 16% in 2024), showing expanding appreciation across the workforce.
HR Expectations
Employers and employees agree, HR should be a 24/7 resource. 57% of employers agree or strongly agree—up from 48% the previous year—while 59% of employees agree.
Generationally, support was higher among younger workers, with 62% of Gen Z employees in agreement. Average agreement scores also rose, with employees increasing to 74% from 65% and employers to 85% from 77% in 2024.
AI in HR
94% of employers and 84% of employees in small and medium-size business have used AI on the job. When it comes to HR-specific tasks, 2 in 3 employees are using AI frequently.
Most employer concerns are flat or nudged upward slightly, with the only meaningful decline being in No Action/Follow-through: 62% of employers felt some level of concern vs 65% in 2024.
Unlike employers, employee concerns rose across every single category, with the largest jumps in bias/discrimination (63% felt some level of concern vs 56% in 2024, the largest rise of 7 pts), follow-through (65% vs 61% in 2024), accuracy (67% vs 63% in 2024), and privacy (67% vs 64% in 2024).
Download the Full Report
Get more data around AI. Explore workplace trends across AI, employee engagement, remote work, and more in the full State of Workplace report by TriNet.
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