Just 63% of Gen Z employees report satisfaction with their work-life balance, the lowest among all generations, even as overall employee satisfaction rises to 77%.
These findings come from TriNet’s State of the Workplace 2025 report, which highlights how employers and employees perceive engagement, AI usage, empowerment, and mental health support, revealing where perspectives align and where they diverge.
Engagement Levels Remain High, But Perceptions Diverge
Employer confidence in employee engagement reached an all-time high, with 100% of employers believing their workforce is engaged. Employees largely agree, with 99% reporting some level of engagement.
However, employers tend to overestimate extreme engagement, particularly among younger generations. For Gen Z, 42% of employers believe employees are “extremely engaged,” compared with 33% of Gen Z employees. Millennials continue to show the highest engagement, with 96% reporting some level of involvement, slightly down from 2024.
AI Fluency Becomes a Shared Priority
AI skills are increasingly viewed as essential. 36% of employees now consider role-specific AI expertise critical, up from 23% last year, while employer emphasis rose to 38%. This alignment places AI alongside leadership and creativity as core capabilities, signaling broader recognition of its role in workplace effectiveness.
AI adoption continues to expand: 94% of employers and 84% of employees in small and medium-sized businesses use AI on the job, with two-thirds of employees using AI frequently for HR tasks.
Empowerment and Mental Health: Diverging Views
Employers are elevating the importance of empowerment factors like mentorship (+11 points to 40%) and autonomy (+9 points to 42%), but employees report declines in the same areas: mentorship down 3 points to 32% and autonomy down 7 points to 27%.
Both groups increasingly prioritize mental health support. Employers rating it as “extremely important” grew to 37%, while employees rose to 43%, with broader appreciation across moderate and somewhat important categories.
Employee Concerns Increasing, Employers Mostly Stable
Support for 24/7 HR availability is growing, with 57% of employers and 59% of employees agreeing. Younger employees, particularly Gen Z, show higher support at 62%, while overall agreement scores increased for both groups.
Employer concerns about workplace issues are largely stable, with a slight decline in follow-through concerns (62% from 65%). In contrast, employee concerns rose across all categories, including bias/discrimination (63% vs 56%), follow-through (65% vs 61%), accuracy (67% vs 63%), and privacy (67% vs 64%), highlighting areas for employer attention.
