Employee experience shapes how people work, how long they stay, and how your business performs. In 2025, the story is mixed: engagement is low in many places, satisfaction is uneven on pay and growth, and hybrid work is now the norm for a lot of teams. At the same time, workers are asking for better balance, fair opportunity, and tools that actually help.
This report pulls together the freshest numbers from 2024–2025 so you can see what is really changing and what still needs work. You will find quick, source-cited employee experience stats on engagement and satisfaction, the links to business performance, work-life balance, hybrid trends, talent attraction and retention, technology’s role, and DEI.
Let’s dive right in.
Guide to employee experience statistics
Key employee experience statistics in 2025
- Global engagement fell to 21%. It’s low and slipping, so many people do not feel connected to their work or goals. This often means slower execution, weaker customer results, and higher turnover.
- 83% say work-life balance is a top priority. Balance now beats pay for many workers. Real flexibility matters. Teams that protect personal time and set clear rules for availability see better energy, focus, and loyalty.
- 73% report higher productivity with hybrid (+19%, about 7.6 hours a week). Hybrid works when home days protect focus and office days are used for collaboration and learning.
- 95% of women believe using flexibility hurts career progression. Flex only helps if it feels safe to use. If people fear a penalty, they will avoid it or leave.
- 42% of quits were preventable. Nearly half of leavers say their employer could have kept them with a better day-to-day experience. Clear goals, regular recognition, visible growth paths, fair treatment, and manageable workloads make the difference.
Employee engagement and satisfaction
Employee engagement and job satisfaction moved in different directions over the last year. Globally, engagement fell to 21% in 2024 (only the second drop since 2009!), and the managers saw the steepest slide. Because they shape day-to-day clarity, feedback, and recognition, that decline has a ripple effect on team motivation and output.
At the same time, half of U.S. workers say they’re extremely or very satisfied with their job overall… But when you dig into specific topics, satisfaction drops: only 30% are highly satisfied with pay, and just 26% with promotion opportunities. Younger and lower-income workers are especially less satisfied than older and higher-income groups, which points to underlying equity and progression concerns.
Put together, the picture is clear: many employees like their jobs in general, but they’re not getting what they need most: fair pay, visible growth paths, and steady support from their managers. The good news is that higher engagement is achievable: Gallup’s benchmark shows best-practice organizations sustain engagement around 70%, proving that focus and consistent management habits can move the needle. And this pays off for the employers, too.
Employee experience vs business performance
Poor experience carries a price tag. Gallup reports that the global dip in engagement in 2024 did not just lower morale; it cost an estimated $438 billion in lost productivity as the share of engaged employees fell from 23% to 21%. That same analysis suggests the world could add $9.6 trillion to the economy if workplaces were fully engaged. These are not abstract ideas. They are measurable hits to output when employees lack clarity, support, or trust.
Well-being is part of performance, not separate from it: Only 57% of employees globally say they have good overall health when you look at mental, physical, social, and other dimensions together. The research suggests that healthier workforces are more productive and that improving employee experience and well-being could unlock trillions of dollars in economic value worldwide. In fact, the World Health Organization estimates that depression and anxiety cost about $1 trillion each year in lost productivity worldwide.
Work-life balance and employee experience
Work-life balance has moved to the center of the employee experience. In 2025, Randstad’s global Workmonitor found that people now rate work-life balance as the single most important factor when they choose a job, edging out pay for the first time in the survey’s 22-year history.
In that study, 83% said balance is a top priority. This shift explains why policies that protect personal time and offer real flexibility are showing up as must-haves, not perks.
Plus, evidence suggests hybrid patterns can improve well-being when they are designed well. A large 2024 U.K. survey reported that hybrid workers felt less burned out and less stressed, and most said that skipping a daily commute gave them more time for life, which boosted their overall balance. Employees in these setups also reported feeling more productive and motivated.
Employee experience in the hybrid work setting
Remote and hybrid work have settled in as a normal way of working rather than a temporary fix. In the U.S., about one in three paid workdays were done from home in early 2025, and among full-time employees overall, the split was roughly 13% fully remote, 26% hybrid, and 61% fully on-site.
Interestingly, engagement and well-being pull in different directions depending on location. Gallup’s 2025 analysis reports that fully remote workers are the most likely to be engaged (31%), edging out hybrid and on-site peers. But those fully remote workers are less likely to be “thriving” overall and more likely to report loneliness and negative emotions. In other words, autonomy can boost enthusiasm for the work while isolation can quietly erode how people feel about life outside it.
That said, there’s still a tug-of-war over flexibility. WFH Research finds a persistent gap (about 0.6 days per week) between how much remote time employees want and what employers plan. The same dataset shows employers offer fewer fully remote roles than workers would like, which helps explain why return-to-office pushes can feel out of step on the ground.
On productivity, the employee experience is mixed but encouraging. Cisco’s 2025 global study finds 73% of workers self-report being more productive under current hybrid policies, estimating an average +19% lift, roughly 7.6 hours a week. There’s also solid causal evidence that a well-designed hybrid model improves retention.
Employee experience and talent: Hiring and keeping people
Retention is where employee experience pays off quickly. Gallup reports that about half of U.S. employees were watching for or seeking a new job in 2024, the highest level of turnover risk in nine years, and that the employer could have prevented 42% of voluntary departures. That points to everyday basics: clear expectations, regular recognition, chances to learn and grow, fair treatment, and reasonable workloads. When these slip, people start looking elsewhere. When they’re solid, people are more likely to stay.
Internal mobility is another experience lever that supports both attraction and retention. LinkedIn’s Global Talent Trends shows more companies are helping employees move into new roles inside the business each year. That boosts engagement and loyalty because people can see real paths to grow without leaving. It also attracts candidates who want to join a company that invests in learning and advancement.
Employee experience isn’t just about culture. It helps you hire better and keep great people longer.
Technology and the employee experience
Workplace technology (especially AI) is now part of almost every task. When tools are simple, reliable, and connected, people feel supported and get more done. PwC’s 2024 global survey shows that more than 80% of employees who use generative AI daily expect it to make their work more efficient in the next year. Qualtrics’ 2025 trends also show adoption is widespread, with about 45% of people using AI tools daily or weekly.
There is a flip side. If teams do not set clear norms, technology can stretch the workday and drain energy. Microsoft’s Work Trend Index describes an “infinite workday,” with meetings after 8 p.m. up 16% year over year and many people checking email before 6 a.m. These always-on patterns can blur boundaries and chip away at well-being, even when the tools are powerful.
Too many tools can also slow people down. Okta’s 2025 report shows the average company now uses about 101 apps, and nearly half of Microsoft 365 customers also pay for Google Workspace. Asana’s Work Innovation Lab estimates workers lose about 57 minutes a day switching between collaboration tools, plus another 30 minutes deciding which one to use. More apps are not always better. Simpler stacks and clear “which tool for what” rules help work feel smoother.
HR technology plays a big part in the experience as well, from onboarding and support to recognition and feedback. Budgets are moving that way. HR.com’s 2024 stack study found 78% of organizations recently increased spending and said employee experience is the top problem they want technology to solve, yet only 46% have tech dedicated to managing the employee experience. There is clear room to mature.
Diversity, equity & inclusion in the employee experience
Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) form part of how people feel at work every day. In Edelman’s 2024 research, employees said their employer is the most trusted institution to address racism, and 76% want companies to defend DEI when it’s attacked, not quietly drop it. That tells you people are watching what leaders do, not just what’s written on a values page.
At the same time, lived experience still lags behind the slogans. The 2024 Women in the Workplace study shows progress over the last decade, but also big gaps: women hold 29% of C-suite roles and women of color only 7%, and the “broken rung” at first-level promotion persists — for every 100 men promoted to manager in 2024, just 81 women were. At the current pace, parity in senior leadership is ~22 years away for white women and ~48 years for women of color. This is the everyday reality that shapes whether employees feel work is equitable and worth investing their energy in.
Inclusion also affects how safe it feels to use flexibility. Deloitte’s Women @ Work 2024 found 95% of women believe requesting or using flexible work will harm their career, and 93% don’t expect their workload to be adjusted if they go flexible. Even with improvements in hybrid working, about three in ten still report exclusion from meetings or lack of predictability. So, if flexibility exists on paper but feels risky in practice, the employee experience suffers, and people hold back or leave.
Candidates notice all of this. Greenhouse’s 2024 candidate research describes job seekers looking for fair, human hiring (flagging discrimination and “ghosting” as deal-breakers) and shows many are ready to walk if the experience signals a poor culture. Other surveys echo that more than three in four candidates weigh diversity when evaluating employers, which means your inclusion reality shows up in your talent pipeline.
There’s also a business reality: some organizations have trimmed public DEI commitments, yet many are holding steady or increasing investment. One 2025 snapshot found that about 1 in 8 companies plan to weaken or cut DEI budgets, while another showed roughly three-quarters maintained or increased activity in 2024. Regardless of labels, the companies that keep building inclusive, high-trust cultures tend to outperform over time. Great Place to Work’s 2025 analysis ties inclusive, equitable “For All” cultures to stronger results across retention, productivity, and customer outcomes, because people do better work when they feel they belong.
Employee experience: Trends & challenges
If there is one takeaway from these 2025 stats, it is this: employee experience is not a side project. It is the engine behind engagement, performance, hiring, and retention. The numbers show where the pressure points are. Engagement is low, satisfaction is uneven on pay and growth, work-life balance now tops the list of what people want, hybrid work is here to stay, technology helps and sometimes hurts, and inclusion still needs real follow-through. The common thread is simple. People do their best work when the basics are clear, fair, and supported every day.
So what should you do next? Start small and make it visible. Set crystal clear goals with each team. Coach managers to give regular feedback and recognition. Review pay and promotion paths so people can see how to grow. Set friendly, firm norms for hybrid work and after-hours communication. Cut duplicate tools and support the ones that matter. Keep building trust by listening often and closing the loop on feedback.
To keep yourself honest, track a short set of signals each month: engagement and intent to stay, internal moves, well-being and after-hours load, and the number of apps people must touch to get work done. If these trends are done the right way, you will feel it in productivity, customer outcomes, and lower churn.
A summary of the most recent employee experience statistics
⚠️ Employee engagement & satisfaction stats
- 21% of employees were engaged globally in 2024, marking only the second drop since 2009.
- 50% of U.S. workers say they are “extremely” or “very” satisfied with their job overall.
- 30% are highly satisfied with their pay.
- 26% are highly satisfied with their promotion opportunities.
- About 70% is the engagement level that best-practice organizations sustain.
📈 Employee experience vs business performance
- $438B is the estimated productivity lost from the 2024 engagement dip.
- 23% to 21% was the year-over-year drop in the global share of engaged employees.
- $9.6T is the potential global economic gain if workplaces were fully engaged.
- 57% of employees say they have good overall health across mental, physical, social, and other dimensions.
- $1T per year is the global productivity loss linked to depression and anxiety.
🌱 Work-life balance & employee experience statistics
- 22 years is the length of the survey’s history; 2025 is the first year work-life balance outranked pay.
- 83% of workers say work-life balance is a top priority.
🏢 Employee experience in the hybrid setting
- 1 in 3 U.S. paid workdays were done from home in early 2025.
- 13%, 26%, and 61% are the shares of full-time employees who are fully remote, hybrid, and fully on-site, respectively.
- 31% of fully remote workers are engaged, the highest among work-location groups.
- 0.6 days per week is the gap between desired and planned remote time.
- 73% of workers say they are more productive under current hybrid policies.
- 19% (about 7.6 hours per week) is the average self-reported productivity lift under current hybrid setups.
🤝 Employee experience & talent (hiring/retention)
- About 50% of U.S. employees were watching or seeking a new job in 2024.
- 9 years marks the highest turnover risk period, reached in 2024.
- 42% of voluntary departures were viewed by leavers as preventable.
🛠️ Technology & the employee experience statistics
- 80%+ of daily GenAI users expect higher efficiency in the next year.
- About 45% of employees use AI tools daily or weekly.
- 16% more meetings now happen after 8 p.m. year over year, and many people check email before 6 a.m.
- About 101 apps are used by the average company.
- About 50% of Microsoft 365 customers also use Google Workspace.
- About 57 minutes per day are lost switching between collaboration tools.
- About 30 minutes per day are lost deciding which tool to use.
- 78% of organizations recently increased HR tech spending.
- 46% of organizations have dedicated employee-experience technology.
💬 DEI in the employee experience
- 76% of employees want companies to defend DEI when it is challenged.
- 29% and 7% are the shares of C-suite roles held by women and by women of color, respectively.
- 81 per 100 is the number of women promoted to manager for every 100 men.
- 22 years and 48 years are the estimated times to senior-leadership parity for white women and women of color, respectively.
- 95% of women believe using flexible work will harm their career progression.
- 93% of women do not expect their workload to be adjusted when they go flexible.
- About 30% of employees report exclusion or a lack of predictability in hybrid setups.
- More than 75% of candidates weigh diversity when evaluating employers.
- About 12.5% (1 in 8) of companies plan to weaken or cut DEI budgets in 2025 snapshots.
- About 75% of organizations maintained or increased DEI activity in 2024.
Sources:
- Gallup, State of the Global Workplace
- Gallup, U.S. employee engagement sinks to a year low
- Pew Research Center, Job satisfaction in the U.S. (Dec 2024)
- Gallup, Employee engagement indicator
- World Health Organization, Mental health at work fact sheet
- McKinsey Health Institute, Thriving workplaces and productivity
- Randstad, Workmonitor
- WFH Research, Monthly update report (Apr 2025)
- Gallup, The remote work paradox
- Cisco, Global Hybrid Work Study
- Gallup, Employee turnover is often preventable
- LinkedIn, Global Talent Trends
- PwC, Hopes and Fears survey
- Microsoft, Work Trend Index on the infinite workday
- Okta, Businesses at Work report
- Asana, Digital tools and employee experience
- Gartner, 2024 HR technology imperatives
- HR.com, State of today’s HR tech stack report (2024)
- Edelman, Trust Barometer special report on business and racial justice (2024)
- McKinsey and LeanIn.Org, Women in the Workplace
- Deloitte, Women @ Work global outlook
- Greenhouse, 2024 Candidate Experience Report
- Resume.org, 1 in 8 companies scaling back DEI commitments in 2025
- Great Place To Work, The business case for high-trust culture
Berenika Teter
Archie's Content Manager, fueled by filter coffee and a love for remote work. When she’s not writing about coworking spaces and hybrid workplaces, you can probably find her exploring one.
