Introduction
Understanding the state of the workplace is essential for tackling today’s challenges and shaping a future of adaptability, foresight, and employee well-being. Amid economic uncertainty and shifting expectations, HR professionals and executives face complex challenges and must develop solutions to drive organizational success. This research examines worker-employer alignment on key workplace priorities and provides strategies to address these challenges effectively.
2026 marks a critical moment for organizations and workplaces worldwide. Amid ongoing economic uncertainty, rapid technological advancements, and evolving worker expectations, HR departments and business leaders are at the forefront of tackling complex organizational challenges. Successfully addressing these shifts is essential to adapting to the evolving dynamics of work and the workforce.
Understanding the state of the workplace is crucial for tackling today’s most pressing challenges and building a future focused on adaptability, strategic foresight, and employee well-being. This research provides an in-depth analysis of the most pressing organizational needs, the degree of alignment between workers and employers, and the strategies necessary to drive meaningful change.
This report seeks to answer critical questions that include:
- What are the top organizational needs identified by workers and employers for 2026?
- To what extent do workers and employers agree on these needs?
- How effective are organizations at addressing organizational needs?
- What is the benefit of sufficiently addressing organizational needs and meeting worker expectations?
- What areas do U.S. workers want HR to prioritize to meet their needs?
To explore these questions, SHRM collected data from over 1,800 HR professionals, including more than 350 in a vice president role or higher at their organization, and nationally representative data from over 2,000 U.S.-based workers in October and November 2025. The findings provide a comprehensive snapshot of the current state of the workplace, offering valuable insights to inform and shape workplace strategies for 2026 and beyond.
OUR PERSPECTIVES
The State of the Workplace: Pressing Workplace Needs
Establishing the right organizational priorities requires grounding business strategy in a clear understanding of workplace needs. Identifying the areas that workers view as most critical is essential for employers striving to create better workplaces, particularly when these needs align with those recognized by organizational leaders. When workers, HR, and leaders share an understanding of workplace needs, organizations are better equipped to create conditions that enable employees to show up each day and perform at their best.
In this research, workers, HR professionals, and HR executives were asked to identify the most important workplace needs that their organizations must address, selecting up to three topics.
Worker Perspective
When asked about key workplace needs, workers highlighted salaries, stress and burnout levels, and work/life integration as the most critical issues for their organizations to address, with employee mental health and fairness of pay also emerging as some of the top areas that workers identified.
HR Perspective
When asked about key workplace needs, HR professionals and executives identified managers’ and supervisors’ ability to effectively lead their direct reports, employee stress or burnout levels, and employee salary or wages.
While employee salaries or wages did not rank as high among HR professionals and executives, it was still recognized as a significant area of need. Just under 1 in 5 HR professionals (18%) and HR executives (18%) identified employee salaries and wages as a top organizational need. These findings suggest that many HR leaders recognize the importance and urgency of addressing compensation, aligning with workers’ perspectives on this critical issue.
Employee stress or burnout levels emerged as a key area of concern across workers and employers. Recognized as one of the most pressing workplace needs, 15% of workers, 19% of HR professionals, and 19% of HR executives identified this issue as among the most important for their organizations to address. This alignment highlights the critical impact of stress and burnout on today’s workplaces as workers face mounting pressures while organizations strive to maintain productivity without overburdening their workforce.
The ability of managers and supervisors to effectively lead their teams was not identified as a top need among workers, but it was the most pressing need for both HR professionals and executives, with one-quarter (25%) of each group highlighting this as a critical area to address. These findings underscore the ongoing need for organizations to identify and develop strong leaders, which is a top priority emphasized for the second consecutive year by CHROs in a SHRM study of HR executives’ priorities.1
By recognizing and understanding common workplace needs, HR professionals and business leaders can take targeted, proactive steps to improve their organizations and implement strategies that effectively address these challenges. Identifying these needs not only helps organizations respond to current issues but also equips them to anticipate future challenges. Through benchmarking against the most pressing organizational needs, leaders can gain valuable insights into emerging trends and areas of concern, such as employee well-being, leadership development, and work/life integration. This forward-looking approach enables organizations to devise targeted strategies that foster a more engaged, resilient, and productive workforce, ensuring they remain competitive and adaptable in an ever-evolving business landscape.
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Effectiveness Gap: Are Organizations Delivering on Employee Expectations?
While understanding and identifying the most urgent workplace needs is valuable, it is equally important to assess how effectively organizations are addressing these challenges. Evaluating the impact of organizational actions and responses provides critical insight into their effectiveness, helping leaders refine strategies and ensure meaningful progress in meeting these needs.
Many say organizations are effective at addressing needs, but one-quarter of workers say their organization is not very effective.
When asked to evaluate how effectively their organization addresses workplace needs, HR executives were the most optimistic, with 43% stating their organization is effective or very effective. Workers expressed similar confidence, with 41% sharing this view. However, HR professionals were notably less optimistic, with only 29% rating their organization as effective or very effective. On the other hand, one-quarter of workers (25%) and a similar proportion of HR professionals (24%) said they feel their organization is not at all effective or is only slightly effective in meeting employee needs. In contrast, just 13% of HR executives shared this more critical perspective, highlighting a gap in perceptions between leadership and HR professionals.
Workers acknowledge employers’ efforts, but both agree more can be done.
When it comes to addressing needs, most workers acknowledged that their organization is making an effort. Nearly two-thirds (63%) agreed or strongly agreed that their organization strives to understand workplace needs, and 65% said they believe their organization actively works to address those needs. Additionally, many workers recognized that those responsible for meeting workplace needs genuinely care about making a difference. Over half of workers (57%) agreed that senior leadership, such as the CEO or president, is committed to addressing workplace needs. Workers reported feeling even more positively about their direct managers or supervisors, with nearly 7 in 10 (69%) agreeing that their manager or supervisor cares about meeting their needs.
Among the nearly 9 out of 10 workers (89%) who reported that their organization has a defined HR department or function, 60% agree that this department cares about sufficiently meeting workplace needs. However, this reveals a significant gap when compared to HR professionals and executives, 89% of whom said they believe their department cares about addressing workplace needs.
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Workers generally reported holding a positive view of their employers’ efforts to address workplace needs, but many also said they believe there is room for improvement. Additionally, more than 7 in 10 workers (72%) said they feel their organization could do more to meet these needs.
Employers and workers largely agreed that organizations can do more to address workplace needs, with HR professionals and executives expressing even stronger sentiments. Nearly three-quarters of HR professionals and executives (74%) said they believe their organization could take greater action to address workplace needs, underscoring shared recognition across all levels of the demand for meaningful progress.
Effectiveness at Addressing Workplace Needs Drives Key Organizational Outcomes
Ratings of organizational effectiveness at addressing workplace needs show a strong connection to key work-related attitudes and perceptions among workers. Those who rated their organization as effective or very effective at addressing workplace needs were more than twice as likely to report job satisfaction, with 91% expressing satisfaction compared to just 44% of those who rated their organization as not effective or only slightly effective. Additionally, 91% of workers who said they view their organization as effective or very effective said they feel engaged at work, a stark contrast to the 50% engagement rate among those who perceived their organization to be less effective. Organizational commitment mirrors this trend, with 85% of workers who said they believe their organization effectively addresses workplace needs reporting that they are deeply committed to the organization, compared to just 41% of those who perceived their organization as falling short. Additionally, over half of workers who said they view their organization as not effective at all or slightly effective reported feeling burned out at work (57%), compared to just 18% of those who rated their organization as effective in addressing workplace needs.
In addition, workers’ perceptions of organizational effectiveness were strongly linked to their likelihood of leaving their employer within the next year. Among workers who said they believe their organization is not effective at addressing workplace needs, over half (51%) indicated they are at least somewhat likely to leave, with nearly one-quarter (24%) stating it is likely or very likely. Conversely, more than three-quarters of workers who said they view their organization as effective or very effective at addressing needs (77%) indicated it is at least somewhat unlikely they will leave, including 62% who reported it is unlikely or very unlikely.
HR faces challenges related to sufficient staffing, working beyond capacity, and declining worker trust.
Despite many HR professionals and executives believing that their organization could do more to address workplace needs, there are potential barriers that may limit HR’s ability to act effectively. As workplaces evolve and adapt to rapidly advancing technologies, the HR function has become a driving force in reimagining and executing strategies to ensure organizational success. Throughout 2025, HR has also played a pivotal role in navigating workplace shifts, including legislative changes. These expanded responsibilities have stretched many HR professionals beyond their typical capacity. In fact, 58% reported working beyond their limits, a figure that has remained consistent with results from 2024 and 2023.
HR staffing may also play a critical role in enabling HR teams to drive organizational success and meet organizational needs. In 2025, 55% of HR professionals and executives agreed that their team has been operating with insufficient staff. This represents a slight decline from 2024 and 2023, but it may partially reflect an increase in HR professionals available to support workers earlier in 2025. Nevertheless, the fact that more than half of HR professionals and executives feel their organizations lack adequate HR staffing highlights potential opportunity costs and areas of the workplace that may be underserved as a result.
Amid these ongoing challenges, employers are increasingly aware of the growing pressure to deliver a positive employee experience for their workforce. Nearly three-quarters of HR professionals and executives (72%) acknowledged that employees today have higher expectations for their employers than in the past. However, these heightened expectations appear to be widening the gap between employers and their workforces. About one-third of HR professionals and executives (32%) said they believe that trust between workers and their organizations has eroded over the past year, and nearly one-quarter (24%) said they feel that the relationship between employees and leadership is deteriorating. With rising expectations and mounting pressures, 2026 represents a critical opportunity for employers to develop data-driven strategies that tackle these challenges and drive organizational success.
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Top-Rated Priorities
With these needs and priorities in mind, organizations and HR departments have shifted their focus to 2026 to identify the critical areas that will propel workplace progress. CHROs have identified leadership and manager development as their top priority for 2026,2 but understanding the perspectives of workers on which topics should take precedence is crucial for building a well-rounded view of the most pressing priorities. This broader understanding will help HR teams align their strategies with workplace needs, paving the way for more successful outcomes.
Employee experience, total rewards, and learning and development identified as top priorities that workers believe HR should prioritize.
Workers from organizations with formal HR departments were asked to consider their HR departments’ top priorities for 2026 and select key focus areas from a list of 16 practice areas outlined in SHRM’s HR Excellence (HR-X) Framework.3 Worker salaries and wages emerged as the most common and pressing need identified by workers, but employee experience — defined as a holistic approach to enhancing engagement and satisfaction — was rated as the most critical area for HR departments to prioritize in 2026, narrowly edging out total rewards.
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With workers highlighting employee experience as the top priority for HR in 2026, many HR professionals and executives recognized the need for improvement in this area, too. When reflecting on employee experience at their own organizations over the past year, nearly one-third of HR professionals and executives (31%) described it as either eroding (25%) or contracting (6%), signaling a perceived decline. More than one-quarter (27%) described the employee experience as plateauing, suggesting stabilization after prior improvements, while 26% said they believe it is improving. These findings highlight a mixed outlook on employee experience, with many organizations facing challenges in maintaining trust and meeting the evolving expectations that workers have for their employers.
Beyond employee experience, workers agreed that learning and development (L&D) should be a top priority for HR in 2026 as advancing technologies and shifting workplace landscapes create growing demand for new and enhanced skills. In addition, leadership and manager development, also identified by CHROs as a key strategic focus for 2026,4 was recognized by workers as a critical area for HR to address. Given the pivotal role leaders and managers play in shaping employee experience and meeting workplace needs, both workers and HR executives were aligned on the importance of strengthening leadership and management as a core strategy for improving the overall employee experience.
As organizations look ahead to 2026, employee experience stands out as a critical driver of workplace progress. Amid eroding trust, evolving worker expectations, and other challenges, aligning HR strategies with broader business goals while prioritizing a positive employee experience is essential. Workers emphasized the need for better employee experience, a sentiment echoed by HR executives, who identified it as a top priority for 2026. Notably, this priority is intricately linked to their continued focus on leadership development, which many workers also recognized as vital. By acknowledging these needs and setting clear, strategic priorities, organizations can strengthen their workforces and position themselves for sustained success in an ever-evolving workplace landscape.
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CONCLUSION
This research provides critical insights that organizational leaders can use to align their strategies with the evolving needs of the workplace. Key areas of focus include salaries and wages, stress and burnout levels, and strengthening the leadership capabilities of managers and supervisors. By recognizing these topics, HR professionals and business leaders can craft targeted strategies that address these pressing challenges head-on. Additionally, workers’ desire for HR to prioritize employee experience, L&D, and leadership and manager development in 2026 provides actionable direction for developing strategies that address these workplace needs. Leveraging these insights allows organizations to proactively address workplace needs, foster a more engaged and resilient workforce, and drive long-term organizational success.