The workforce doubles down under pressure 

In 2025, the workforce is under pressure. Layoffs and slowed hiring, tariff and inflation worries, and rapid AI‑era role shifts are elevating uncertainty. In response, employees are doing two things at once: reinforcing their footing where they are and asking employers for firmer assurances on pay, skills, flexibility, and the future of their roles.

What do employees do when the ground threatens to shift beneath them? Mercer’s Inside Employee Minds 2025 data suggest they double down where they are, hoping leaders will likewise recommit to the employee deal.

That’s the two‑front search for stability that runs through this year’s Inside Employee Minds report. On one front, we see higher engagement and stronger intent to stay, especially where employees believe they can progress internally. On the other, we see requests for assurance: transparency on compensation, pragmatic flexibility and time‑off that actually works, and concrete skills roadmaps tied to the roles people do today.

The pressure out there is real. Macroeconomic anxiety hasn’t disappeared so much as shifted, as concerns about job security and role clarity now loom larger than day‑to‑day expense worries. AI is moving faster than many operating models, and some teams are running lean as organizations retool. It all adds up to a workplace where people want to stay — but want to see what staying will look like.

So where is the pressure coming from, and how is it changing the way people show up at work? Let’s dive into the data.

When we examined exactly what has employees concerned, the common thread we found was uncertainty — economic, organizational, or technological — that is putting job security and role clarity at the center of how people feel at work.

One of the most acute pressures is economic. Seven in ten employees (70%) say inflation and market volatility are increasing financial stress, more than half (56%) fear for their jobs, and more than three-quarters (76%) worry about the effect of tariffs on the economy. Yet the impact seems diffused, as 30% selected None of the Above when asked about recent economic impacts on them since 2023. At the same time, just over half (53%) of employees said they believe their organization is on track to be more successful even as national optimism lags.  

AI has also become a sharp source of both anticipation and unease for employees. Sixty‑three percent of those surveyed say they are enthusiastic about AI’s potential to make work more efficient — but more than half expect it to affect their job security and 43% expect work to feel harder in the near term.    

It’s important to note that the pressure here is not being evenly felt by all employees. Strain tends to concentrate where work is already challenging.

• Healthcare and Retail: These sectors sit below the overall averages, continuing to show strain from talent shortages, lean staffing, difficult coverage, and lingering skills gaps that make day‑to‑day work harder.
  
  
• Late‑career (55–64), hourly/≤$60k, experienced professionals, and women: These groups scored lower than average for different reasons — financial strain and schedule control for hourly/lower‑income roles; skill‑clarity and job‑security concerns for late‑career; and perceived fairness (pay/progression) and predictability for women and more experienced professionals.
  
  
• High Tech and Financial Services, on‑site workers, managers, and 5–10 years’ tenure: In contrast, these segments show some of the strongest year-over-year gains, likely tied to fewer external opportunities than in 2023.

In response to this increased pressure of uncertainties, employees told us they are seeking stability in two ways: by recommitting to their work and by hoping for assurances from employers that will make staying feel like a smart choice.

As past Mercer research has shown, in uncertain markets, people tend to dig in. In 2025, engagement is strong and nearly three‑quarters say they intend to stay. The same percentage believe they can meet their career goals internally by doing so — a sentiment that is particularly high in High Tech and Financial Services. 

Employee expectations around transparency are also shifting — particularly as they see transparency practices and policies evolve. More than four in ten respondents now say they won’t even apply for a role if pay isn’t posted. Moreover, sharing pay information among colleagues is becoming increasingly more common once people settle into the job, something that is especially common in High Tech and Financial Services industries. 

The call for clarity does not end with compensation; it also extends to the future of work in the age of AI. Employees broadly accept that AI is reshaping roles, but they are looking for more specifics and strategy from employers on how it will affect them: where responsibilities will shift, when changes will happen, and how workloads will be managed during transformation. Confidence about which skills matter to the business has declined since last year, and people are looking for more plain‑language role impacts, timelines, workload safeguards, and funded time to learn.   

The same preference for assurances shows up in how, when, and where workers want to work. Among employees who can work remotely, most say a hybrid rhythm fits them best and only 11% say they’d prefer to be full‑time on‑site. Employees also link dependable time off and schedule stability with their own well‑being, which makes everyday logistics like coverage, shift planning, and calendar discipline central to the experience, especially in frontline roles.

However, employers do appear to have earned a reservoir of trust from employees, as a strong majority believe their employers would support them in a crisis. This is goodwill employers can continue to build by providing employees with more assurances and the predictability they are looking for.

The overall picture is clear. Employees are investing where they are, and they are asking for plain answers about pay, skills, flexibility, and how work will change. The combination is not contradictory; it is a coherent response to uncertainty. People want to contribute — and they want to know that contribution has a stable path forward.

The opportunity now is to convert this moment of recommitment into durable trust. That means treating clarity as a system — how pay is understood, how roles evolve, how time is organized — not as a set of one‑off messages. When employees can see the plan and recognize themselves in it, trust and engagement will follow.

For the full findings and industry cuts from Mercer’s Inside Employees’ Minds 2025-2026, or to discuss what this means for your organization, connect with your Mercer team.