What Workers Want: Key Takeaways from SHRM’s Global Employee Monitor

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Daroon Jalil: When we looked at engagement, it wasn't pay, it wasn't benefits. Those were not the strongest drivers of engagement. Actually, the number one driver was meaningful work and opportunities to develop skills, having clarity in their role. So knowing what am I doing in this role? What is expected of me?

Anne: Welcome everyone. I'm Anne Sparaco, host of SHRM's All Things Work podcast, and part of our content marketing team here at SHRM. Today we are breaking down the real reasons people stay, leave and engage with their jobs. Headlines often guess what workers want or feel, but it is easy to lose sight of the facts on the ground.

That is why SHRM launched its new quarterly Global Employee Monitor to keep a finger on the pulse of workers around the world. Today we are unpacking key findings from SHRM's detailed research about what truly matters to workers. We will clarify the push and pull factors driving job decisions, why basic perks are not enough for engagement and how workers' views on AI are evolving.

Together we will walk away with a clearer understanding of what employees value and actionable strategies to improve our workplaces. Joining me today is Daroon Jalil, a senior researcher at SHRM who led this in-depth report. Daroon, welcome.

Daroon Jalil: Thank you, Anne. I'm really glad to be here and excited to talk to you today about the research that we conducted.

Anne: So excited to have you. We know that this is an amazing report and your background is just phenomenal here at SHRM. We love the work you do. This report surveyed workers across 26 countries. Tell us about the main regions of the globe you investigated in this study and why it's so important to understand these trends on an international scale.

Daroon Jalil: Thank you Anne. So this survey was truly a global survey. We surveyed workers across the world. We had representation across North and South America, Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Europe. So really kind of up and down side to side across the globe.

We really thought it was important to understand these trends at an international scale because the world of work is no longer confined by geography. Companies operate with a global footprint. There's distributed work teams across different countries, cross-border partnerships and clients. So for organizations working across different countries, the experience of workers and the expectations that workers have of their employers is not necessarily universal.

There's also economic conditions, labor market conditions, and just a lot of local context variables that help shape employee behavior. So we were wanting to kind of take our research to the next level and broach this more global approach to help make more informed strategic decisions for those organizations that do operate at that level.

But it's also useful for organizations, even if they're not operating at an international level, there's country specific findings as well that can still be valuable to those that are operating within a country. So kind of being able to provide insights to both those that work internationally and within.

Anne: I love that. Thank you for breaking that down for us because we know that this is a really in-depth report. Today we're touching on so much, but we know there's a lot more to it as well. So digging into it a little bit more, what data did you find the most surprising from this research report and what was actually the least surprising? Can you break down why?

Daroon Jalil: One thing that really stood out to me is the clear distinction between retention and engagement. So a lot of organizations treat them as the same, but the data shows that they're really driven by different factors. Foundational elements like pay and security are what keep people in their roles. It's the autonomy, the meaningful work, recognition and development that keeps people engaged in their day-to-day basis. So that really stood out to me as something very interesting.

I guess what was the least surprising was that pay has consistently emerged as the top factor in workers' decisions of whether or not they join, they stay, or they leave an organization. While that's expected, I don't think it should be dismissed because it really reinforces something that's really fundamental. That employment relationship is ultimately an exchange of time and skills and expertise for compensation. That is kind of the root of any job.

Because of that, pay remains central to attracting talent. So it isn't something that organizations can afford to overlook. While it is not surprising, I think it is reinforcing and it should bring that back to light that people are working for money and so we should be mindful of that.

Anne: Let's dive into the core data here. You touched on the pay part. So let's dig into that a little bit more on the other contributing factors. The report highlights an ecosystem of push and pull factors. You define this in your report, the data confirmed pay was the cornerstone of the employee experience. The data specifically says 94% of workers who were satisfied with their pay say they're more inclined to stay in their jobs. Again, not the most surprising, like you said, but super important.

So what are the other top contributing factors to job satisfaction and willingness to stay in their jobs and how do they play a role in an employee's desire to stay or search for a new role?

Daroon Jalil: In this research we asked workers about their satisfaction with 19 different aspects of their job. Things like pay benefits, job security, work/life balance, manager work environment, kind of all the essentials that make up a job. Then we looked at how satisfaction with those various components connected to whether or not they've been searching for a new job, actively searching for a new job, seriously considering leaving their current job if they are inclined to stay or if they're inclined to leave their current job.

What we found was that a few key factors stood out beyond pay, and that is job security, the benefits, a fair and respectful work environment, career advancement opportunities, work life balance and their managers. In essence when workers feel secure, when they feel respected and when they feel supported and see a path to grow, they're much more likely to stay. So that was related to their inclinations to stay at their job, and then they're much less likely to actually actively look for another job and to be considering thinking about leaving their jobs as well.

Anne: I think a lot of us can relate to that too. Beyond the pay, we're all thinking about this as well as employees or managers as well. So why is it so important for us as employers, employees, people managers, to really understand about the whole package of benefits beyond just the pay, even though we know pay is the top factor there? Why is it so important to think about the whole picture here?

Daroon Jalil: It really shows that job decisions, when workers are making decisions about their job, it's really multi-dimensional. Pay matters, but so do growth opportunities, so do everyday experiences at work. Retention is really about how well organizations are able to deliver across all those dimensions.

Because like we said before, pay matters. If there's two organizations that offer similar levels of pay, what can you offer beyond that? That's where you can provide something unique where you can get that talent that you really need. We have a competitive salary, but what else is there? What is there about our work environment? Can we provide opportunities for growth? I think that's why it's really important to consider the whole package because it can give you the edge over what other organizations may be doing when you're trying to find that talent.

Anne: So the research also shows somewhat of a significant gap between what employees value and how satisfied they are. Can you go over some of the numbers regarding what employees value and pay benefits, career advancement, and how they differ from what employers value?

Daroon Jalil: When we had asked workers what attracted them to their current job, it was those top factors that we talked about. Pay was number one. 45% said that pay is what attracted them to their current job. 32% said it was the benefits. 30% said job security, 30% said work/life balance and career advancement opportunities. So those were the main factors that consistently show up as the decisions on whether or not you come in or leave.

What was really interesting is that these are the same areas where dissatisfaction was the highest. So pay, career advancement and benefits. Those ranked as the top three factors where workers had the highest dissatisfaction. It really highlights that there's a clear gap between what workers value the most and what they feel like they're actually getting.

It definitely points to that misalignment and whether or not, it may be that organizations are unable to provide it or maybe they're unwilling to offer it, but it's what workers are wanting. I would say that organizations generally understand what matters to employees pay benefits, growth, security. The gap is really, are they able to consistently deliver on those expectations?

Because these are the foundational elements of the employee value proposition, these are the foundational things that make up a job. When you fall short on that, it really has an outsized impact on attraction and retention because this is the foundation of a job. This is what I would expect. If you can't deliver on what is the baseline expectation that may have a really strong reaction to like, why can't my organization provide me with the bare minimum?

Anne: So we talked about managers as well. They play a massive role in retention and your data found nearly 93% of workers satisfied with their managers lean towards staying in their jobs. I think a lot of us can relate to this. So what does this say about the impact of that manager employee relationship? Can you dive into that a little bit?

Daroon Jalil: I think it definitely just reinforces that phrase that we hear a lot that people don't leave jobs, they leave managers, and it really speaks to that important role that managers play in employee retention. Managers play this critical role in employee experience or that linchpin between workers and the organization. They allocate the resources, they implement the policies, they shape that day-to-day work and they influence opportunities for growth. All of these are really important for workers.

These are the things that impact worker engagement, like their opportunities to develop different skills, their autonomy in their work, receiving recognition. These are the things that are really important to workers and their engagement, and these are the things that managers play a really important role in. They set the tone for the culture. They set the tone for the daily interactions, so how managers show up can really significantly impact the employee experience. That's what we see in the data and we see it anecdotally all the time as well.

Anne: We often conflate what drives retention with what drives engagement. We teased ahead to this earlier, but they are different retention and engagement. So Daroon, how do the drivers of retention actually differ from the intrinsic factors that actually fuel employee engagement, like autonomy and meaningful work?

Daroon Jalil: Like I had alluded to before, this was what I thought was one of the most interesting findings. The factors that are getting people in the door tends to be the relatively transactional ones that reflect the essence of a job pay benefits, job security, career advancement, so are fundamental. While that is really important to get them in the door and keep them in the door, what is actually engaging them on a day-to-day level is really different.

When we looked at engagement, it wasn't pay, it wasn't benefits. Those were not the strongest drivers of engagement. Actually, the number one driver was meaningful work. And opportunities to develop skills, having clarity in their role. So knowing what am I doing in this role? What is expected of me? Having autonomy in their role. So deciding how they do their work to a reasonable extent. Having autonomy and how they do their work when they do their work, and essentially not having a micromanager and also recognition. Just having recognition and being recognized for the work that you do.

Those were the top factors that drove engagement. Engagement being feeling excited about the work, feeling enjoyment from the work that they're doing, looking forward to working. So compensation and security really matter for retention. But when it comes to the day-to-day experience of work itself, it's the aspects of the job and the work that you're doing that really can drive engagement for workers.

Anne: I feel like people tuning in are nodding their head along with me. The more you were talking about that I was like, yes. Yes, exactly. I never would've thought of that by myself to think of the difference between the two or separating the two because my brain immediately wanted to group them together thinking, well, if you have good engagement, you have good retention. It's like, no, those are two different factors overall, and I love how you define them.

Daroon Jalil: Like, I mean, if I need a job or I need to pay the bills, I'm gonna, if I need to pay the bills, I'm gonna stay at my job. But if you want me to be happy and really engaged and looking forward and being happy to log in, then I need a little bit of purpose in the work that I'm doing and I need to feel excited about the work that I'm doing. I think there is, even when you think about it at a personal level, even if maybe I don't love the work that I do, but I need to pay the bills, I'll probably stay here, but if I can have both, then you're gonna have a great employee that's really engaged.

Anne: There's a difference between wanting to do the job versus wanting to do the work. I think that really drives the real difference in organizational success with talent. So looking at the global context, we see varied overall satisfaction across different countries. Which areas from your research did you see maybe the least satisfaction and which regions had the most? Can you tell us a little bit about the difference? I'm just curious.

Daroon Jalil: What was interesting was that there actually wasn't like a region to be like, okay, this region, everybody's having this region. Everybody's had, it was quite a mix. So the countries that had the highest were Saudi Arabia, India, South Africa, Nigeria, and Brazil. Those countries out of the 26 that we surveyed, those had the relatively highest levels of satisfaction. We averaged, so we asked the 19 questions of how satisfied are you with this, this, this, we took the average of that, and then those countries had the highest average.

The countries that had the lowest were South Korea, Japan, France, and Italy. So those had the lowest levels of satisfaction. Just something to note though, is that even though these are the lowest, it still hovers around the midpoint. On a scale of one to five, the countries that had the highest were right around four and above, and the countries that had the lowest were around three. So with averages, it's important to know that with averages, everything kind of just hovers around the middle. So even small differences reflects a big difference in what's actually going on.

All that to say it's not a story of extreme dissatisfaction where workers in these countries are extremely dissatisfied, but more so relative differences. We see that in those countries workers are relatively much more satisfied with aspects of their job. But also scoring a three, an average of a three. There's definitely room for improvement in a lot of areas there.

Context matters. There's cultural norms to take into consideration. Some workers from certain countries may feel, they may just rate more conservatively, they may actually have the same level of satisfaction but rate more conservatively. There's a lot of economic conditions that play an important role, feeling stability in their job. There's a lot of differences in stability in their job. So all of these can really shape how workers evaluate their experiences.

Anne: Let's turn to a topic on every leader and worker's mind. Lately, it's been the topic of the year in the past couple years, artificial intelligence, AI, particularly generative AI (GenAI). So Daroon, your research found workers are still concerned with how AI will change their roles. 33% worried they may lose their jobs within the next year. And we also have some AI research with SHRM that talks about jobs at risk reports. That's interesting too for our audience tuning in. So many of us can relate to this fear. We're all thinking how is this gonna shift? How is this gonna transfer my job? Does it mean I'm at risk?

From your research, which countries actually showed fewer concerns about job displacement?

Daroon Jalil: Some of the countries that showed fewer concerns, one of them was the US, Canada. So these countries showed fewer concerns. Then some of the countries that showed more concerns were Nigeria, India, and Uganda. We didn't ask specifically why are you concerned about this? I think it's important to consider some of the larger macro reasons.

In those countries, a lot of the labor market is concentrated in those routine, automatable roles and clerical roles, customer support, back service roles, IT roles. Those roles are some of the ones that are most exposed to AI. In some other countries like the US where some of the roles are a little bit more highly skilled and may be a little bit less susceptible to AI, but I would argue that maybe some of it is also just maybe confidence of workers where they maybe were just a little bit oblivious to like, hey, actually AI may take over. So I think it's a little bit of both.

Anne: Like we said, a lot of things playing factors here. I think that's really important to take into consideration when we're talking about any of this data throughout this report. There's just a lot more at play here and that's important to keep in mind. So how can employers really utilize this data to address those overall AI concerns? Even though there's maybe fewer concerns in certain countries versus others, that doesn't mean there's no concerns.

Daroon Jalil: One part of addressing AI concerns comes down to trust and transparency. So clearly communicating how AI will be used, not just what it can do, but what it won't replace or what it won't do. Positioning AI as a tool that really enhances their work rather than replaces workers is critical. So reassuring, it needs to be backed by action. Organizations can't just say, oh yeah, don't worry, and then not backed by any actions. There needs to be clear guardrails in place. Where's the human oversight? Where are the checks and balances? Where are the defined limits of where AI is applied?

At the end of the day, it's about building a culture where AI is seen as a partner, but through trust and transparency and being honest about this is what it will replace or what it will change. While a third of workers were worried that AI would replace their jobs, about 43% were worried that AI would drastically change their jobs. So they were more worried about how AI is actually changing their jobs than AI replacing them completely.

That's somewhere that's very actionable for organizations is figuring out, okay, let's make it clear how it will change their jobs, what we need from them, how, what upskilling will be required from them, what different skill set is gonna be expected from them from the next year or two or three, and how we can enable that. So a little bit of both build, there needs to be that trust of AI as a partner. And then also building up that workforce to be ready to use it as a partner and not just see it as taking it over.

Anne: And being open to that change, being open to upskilling. Job transformation is inevitable when it comes to AI. I think your data really supports that as well. Employers are adopting AI at a great rate. To digress a little bit, SHRM does have the automation, generative AI (GenAI) and jobs at risk displacement report. That was with your colleague, Justin Ladner. They did talk about that report. Just caveat, that was also just US based. It wasn't a global research report. But it discussed the barriers to full displacement. And I think that eased a lot of concerns, eased a lot of fears.

I feel like that goes hand in hand a little bit. But you can correct me there. But I just thought the displacement risk, the barriers, full displacement, like client preferences, regulation, legal, I think that also puts it into perspective, like we're putting everything into perspective on the contributing factors here, right?

Daroon Jalil: Yeah, absolutely. One of the questions we had asked in the survey was how often are you using AI and the work that you're doing and what types of AI you're using? We're seeing that workers are, at least I would say at least a quarter that are using it pretty often, regularly in the work that they're doing. So it's not that workers are so apprehensive. They're finding that balance and that understanding of what is the work that we should be using it for? When is it a partner? When is it, so just all of us reaching a mutual understanding of when we're using AI, what we're using it for, what it's gonna do and what it's not gonna do.

Anne: That's the beauty of, I'm so glad that you asked that in your research. I think that's so important. Workers, they are actively building their skills according to your report, including those AI skills and trying to adapt to that change. They're open to that change, and this signals a workforce that is preparing for evolving future rather than resisting it, as you mentioned. So how does this adaptability contrast with their cautious outlook on the broader economy? Because I know you said economic factors are playing a role here.

Daroon Jalil: It seems that workers are doing what they can in their sphere of influence to provide a buffer against that ever evolving landscape of work and challenges in the broader economy. We found that 86% said that they have actively worked to build or improve their skills, and 83% said they have developed skills that will help them adapt in the future, and that's within the past 12 months. 86% of those that we survey said that they're working on trying to build those skills.

So definitely a level of adaptability there, a level of openness to upskilling and to staying relevant in the workforce. But on the other hand, we're seeing that the outlook for the broader economy is much more cautious. So concerns about job opportunities, concerns with the cost of living, concerns with just the overall economic conditions suggest that even as workers are feeling capable, they're not as confident in the environment that they're operating in. So workers are feeling ready for the future, but they're not really sure if the systems around them are, or even that the systems around them will support them in that. It's a difficult position for workers to be in and it seems like they're trying to do what they can to buffer against it.

Anne: In your research, you also found relatively few workers report having strong financial well-being. Like you mentioned, they are cautious about the global economic environment. So how does this financial anxiety, for lack of financial well-being might be impacting day-to-day performance and job search behaviors? Because like we mentioned before, there's contributing factors to what's making people search for new roles.

Daroon Jalil: We found that only about one in four workers viewed the job market and economic conditions and cost of living favorably in their countries. So only one in four are viewing it as favorably. The rest are viewing it either unfavorably or just kinda like, eh, it's eh. We found that workers who reported poor economic conditions, also reported lower job performance. Then they also reported more job searching and higher turnover intentions.

As humans, we're always trying to reduce our discomfort. If we're feeling a lot of discomfort in the financial aspect, what's our source of money is usually our jobs. If that's not providing us with the security that we need, then we're gonna be looking for jobs elsewhere. That's what we're seeing here at this level as well as that there's more job searching and higher turnover intentions with workers that report poor economic conditions.

Anne: As we consider these trends, how do you foresee employers balancing the need for technological advances like AI, with maintaining a positive and supportive employee experience? Or kind of going back to that employee engagement, employee experience, conversation.

Daroon Jalil: I think both can coexist and a balance is possible. The key is really how AI is positioned and how it's implemented. Like we had talked about before, when employers frame AI as a tool that enhances employees work rather than replaces them, then it's just that mindset from a threat to a support. So here's a tool that supports you in your work instead of here's the threat of what's taking over your job.

But there needs to be clear communication for that to happen about where we're using AI, how it fits into that role and where the safeguards are. But it also comes down to investing in people, providing training, upskilling opportunities involving employees. I think if workers take that approach of tempering employee concerns related to AI and treating it as a tool, it would do a lot to maintain a positive overall employee experience. There is gonna be less of that job instability, concerns of job instability as well.

Anne: What do you really want them to walk away with today? Using SHRM's research to build stronger workplace culture while also delivering measurable results to improve their business' bottom line.

Daroon Jalil: I think the biggest takeaway is to be intentional about what you're trying to drive. So if your goal is to attract talent or if your goal is to reduce turnover, then you should focus on the fundamentals of that employment relationship, pay benefits, career development. These are the table stakes that get people in the door, keep them from leaving. If the goal is to boost engagement, then the focus needs to shift, and the focus should be on intrinsic day-to-day work experiences, like helping employees find meaning in their work, giving them autonomy. Creating opportunities for them to build their skills and recognizing their contributions.

I would say the most actionable simple advice I can give is to align your strategy with your outcome. Don't rely on that one size fits all approach. If you wanna retain, you gotta focus on the factors that drive retention. If you wanna engage, you focus on those that drive engagement.

Anne: What are you looking forward to most as you develop more of this research going through each quarter for the rest of 2026?

Daroon Jalil: I'm really looking forward to, honestly, I'm looking forward to the end and not because it will be done, but I'm looking forward to having a really robust sample size. Not that the 5,000 isn't robust, but when we have 20,000 and we'll be able to make a lot of meaningful comparisons across country. A lot of the analysis that we're talking about today and the data that we're talking about can be done at a country level.

So right now we're doing it overall across all of the countries, but once we have a more robust sample, then we could be like, oh yeah, so here are the predictors of retention in this country. Here are the predictors of retention in this country. So basically I'm just excited for more data so I can do more analysis, but that's just the nerd in me.

Anne: Hey, it was just your passionate and we are so looking forward to learning more. There's just so much more to come in SHRM's thought leadership research overall, let alone the global employee monitor. So thank you so much for breaking down all this data. We know that our members and those tuning in will be able to dive in even deeper into the web-based report. So thank you Daroon, for sharing your insight and really walking us through the everyday employee no matter what region they're in. So thank you for joining us.

Daroon Jalil: Thank you. Thank you, Anne. I really appreciated your time and having this discussion with you.

Anne: Great discussion to have. Alright. That's it for this week. We'll catch you next time.