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What people want from work is shifting – fast – driven by new trends, technologies and values.
At a time when companies are increasing in-office days, cutting layers of management and slowing salary increases, a new report warns of the importance of listening to employees even as the power balance shifts in favour of the employer.
The recent Korn Ferry Workforce 2025 survey, which included 15,000 professionals from entry-level staff to CEOs across 10 countries, reveals just how wide the gap has grown between what employers are doing and what employees want.
Here’s a look at the findings:
Missing middle management
In the push to reduce costs, many organizations are “flattening” or cutting middle managers, and the fallout is real: 41 per cent of employees report fewer management layers, leaving a vacuum of direction and support.
“When management disappears, so does direction. A leaner organization today can mean a leadership crisis tomorrow,” says Lesley Uren, chief executive officer at Korn Ferry Consulting.
With 43 per cent of employees saying leadership feels misaligned and 37 per cent feeling directionless without managers, the message is clear: structure matters.
The salary squeeze
Wages haven’t kept pace with rising living costs. A striking 70 per cent of respondents say their salary no longer matches expenses and 35 per cent feel underpaid for their skills. Yet Korn Ferry warns that pay isn’t the only retention anchor. Employees crave job security, meaningful work, benefits and flexibility nearly as much as higher salaries.
“A paycheque gets employees in the door. Job security, meaningful work and respect for personal boundaries keep them from looking for the exit,” says David Ellis, the senior vice-president for talent transformation at Korn Ferry.
A new AI world order
Talent readiness for artificial intelligence is shifting globally with emerging economies such as India and Brazil outpacing traditional players in AI fluency.
These regions report robust AI training uptake – more than 75 per cent of workforces – while leaders in the U.S., Europe and Japan lag behind. The Korn Ferry survey shows that workers who are trained on AI are significantly more likely to embrace it, supporting the idea that filling skill gaps appears more critical than simply adopting new technologies.
The hybrid headache
Office mandates and hybrid-flex struggles continue. “Of the 59 per cent of global employees who are working full-time in the office, only 19 per cent actually want to be there,” the report notes. Meanwhile, nearly 50 per cent prefer hybrid and 25 per cent fully remote, yet few have the option. “That’s a lot of unhappy employees,” says the report.
Interestingly, the data varies dramatically from region to region, thickening the plot for multinational companies that opt for global workplace policies.
Generational gaslighting
How’s the multi-generational workforce going? Depends who you ask. While 49 per cent of Gen Z feel communication and teamwork training is necessary, only 27 per cent of Baby Boomers agree. Similarly, 40 per cent of Gen Z see a tech skills gap in older co‑workers, compared with just 24 per cent of Boomers.
This “digital divide” affects trust, collaboration and opportunities for cross-generational development.
What it all means for leaders
The report emphasizes that the employer–employee power balance has shifted. Leaders must pivot from top-down mandates to empathetic, responsive strategies:
- Restore management lines: Provide training and empowerment to rebuild those missing middle layers.
- Recalibrate total compensation: If you can’t compete on pay, double down on flexibility, purposeful work, security and supportive culture.
- Invest in AI skills: Focus resources on training and skill-building rather than just tool adoption.
- Honour flexibility preferences: Offer hybrid and remote options where demand is high.
- Bridge generational rifts: Foster intergenerational communication, tech training and mentorship to build a cohesive culture.
Korn Ferry puts it simply: it’s not about what you ask employees to do. It’s about how you listen and respond in real time.
Fast factHybrid honeymoon
15 per cent
That’s how much remote and hybrid job opportunities that pay more than $100,000 decreased from the first quarter to the second of this year, according to career search website Ladders.
Career guidanceMind > machine
A recent MIT media lab study found that users of AI tools such as ChatGPT “consistently underperformed at neural, linguistic and behavioural levels.” While that may sound troublesome, this article shares how to get AI’s benefits without hurting your mental growth.
Tips include using AI to push your ideas further (rather than using it to come up with ideas), avoiding using AI for first drafts of work and using AI to challenge your thinking (for example, poke holes in your arguments).
QuotedFranchising fanbase
“The days of people working for major corporations and waiting years and years for an opportunity for a promotion – I don’t think that is attractive to a lot of these franchisees,” says Stretch Zone chief executive officer Tony Zaccario. “When you are able to deliver a simple business model that doesn’t require a lot of money or experience, it falls into what they’re looking for.”
Franchising used to be something people turned to later in their careers but these days more young people are getting in on the action – especially with lower-cost, easy-to-run franchise options.
On our radarMicrosoft mishap
A newly discovered flaw in Microsoft SharePoint is being exploited by Chinese state-backed hackers and Canada is one of the top countries at risk. Because many Canadian companies and government agencies host SharePoint on their own servers, they’re especially vulnerable to breaches that could give hackers access to everything from Teams to Outlook and OneDrive.