Most employees are considering their next career move without feeling motivated to develop their skills, instead prioritizing a balance between work and personal life, as reported by the global brokerage group Aon.
According to their employee sentiment study for 2025, which included over 9,000 employees from various companies across 23 countries, including the USA, UK, Brazil, and Australia, 60% of respondents may or already intend to seek new employment within the next 12 months, indicating a general dissatisfaction with their current jobs.
Additionally, the surveyed employees displayed low interest in improving their skills in artificial intelligence—only slightly more than one-third of workers worldwide are motivated to enhance these skills to validate their knowledge of the new technology when asked.
At the same time, there is an increasing demand for employer flexibility regarding working hours—respondents ranked the benefits of work-life balance as the third most valued advantage in the workplace. Generation Z employees consider such balance programs the second most valuable benefit after health coverage. Following this are paid time off, career development opportunities, and retirement savings.
Lambros Lambrou, CEO of Aon Human Capital, notes that despite a slight cooling in the labor market, employees are reassessing their priorities and tend to favor new employers who can provide them with a work-life balance.
The results of the Aon study indicate that a strong corporate culture helps employers attract and retain top talent. Workers are looking for companies not only for competitive pay and benefits but also for those closer to home, as well as those that align with their personal values. These factors are increasingly outweighing other considerations when choosing a new position.