What Your Employees Want (and Need) in 2025

This blog is the third in a series of Performance, Rewritten series.

The workforce is shifting. Gen Z now represents the largest generation at work, surpassing Boomers for the first time. By 2030, five generations will work alongside each other - each with different priorities and expectations.

This change is happening against a challenging backdrop: productivity growth remains sluggish, turnover is high, and stress levels are climbing. In the UK, 33.7m working days were lost in 2023/24 due to workplace illness and injury (HSE). Presenteeism — employees working while unwell — is even more costly, quietly eroding productivity, creativity, and morale.

Despite this, companies are still pouring billions into benefits and programmes that fail to deliver ROI. In many cases, they’re offering the wrong kind of support — one-size-fits-all perks that sound good on paper but fail to make a meaningful difference for employees, teams or the organisation overall.

The stakes are high: organisations that understand and respond to what today’s workforce really needs will be the ones that attract top talent, reduce costs, and build sustainable performance. Those that don’t will struggle to compete.

Here's what employees actually want in 2025:

1. Ways of working that address different needs

Most organisations make a dangerous assumption: that every employee values the same things. But different demographics have different needs. Younger workers want more flexibility. Females are increasingly seeking menopause or menstruation support.

Future-ready companies understand that the most effective benefits, programmes and ways of working are not one-size fits all, but are personalised to different organisations, teams and employees.

2. A real voice in workplace decisions

Annual engagement surveys feel outdated to many workers, especially Gen Z. They want ongoing input into decisions that affect their daily experience. They expect their feedback to influence policy, not disappear into a spreadsheet.

Companies that actively integrate employee perspectives into business decisions see measurably better outcomes. When people feel heard, they invest more energy in their work. In fact, top performers are 800% more productive than average performers in the same role (McKinsey). Creating conditions where these people can thrive is a direct competitive advantage.

3. Health & well-being support that’s proactive, not reactive

The mental health crisis is real—6 in 10 are struggling from workplace burnout (Forbes), and managers are seeing the impact firsthand. Physical health is also on the decline. In Europe alone, 1.8m deaths from Non-Communicable Diseases could be avoided each year if individuals had access to timely, proactive treatment (WHO). Employers increasingly expect their employers to provide proactive support, integrated into their daily work experience: manageable workloads, psychological safety in teams, and early intervention when stress levels rise. The most effective programmes help prevent illnesses rather than just treating them.

4. Long-term capability building, not quick fixes

The AI-driven workplace is here. But many employees are anxious about what it means for their jobs. In the UK, 1 in 4 employees are concerned that AI will lead to job losses (Acas, YouGov).

The most successful companies are those that invest in building future-ready skills — from emotional intelligence and adaptability to strategic thinking and digital literacy. McKinsey estimates that taking a more holistic approach to workforce health and capability could unlock up to 55% of an employee’s salary in annual performance gains.

For managers, this means shifting from firefighting performance issues to building capabilities that help people consistently perform at their best — no matter how their role evolves.

5. Alignment between purpose, culture, and experience

Gen Z in particular expects employers to stand for something beyond profit — and for the organisation’s day-to-day reality to reflect those values. And the research speaks for itself. 2 in 10 are considering a job change in the next 12 months because they don’t find their work meaningful enough. In a study by Gallup, companies that took a more human centric approach to their employees - such as giving them greater autonomy over their work - saw higher productivity. When purpose, culture, and the lived employee experience align, it becomes a powerful magnet for top talent — and a major retention driver.

What this means for managers

Your employees want more than perks. They want benefits and programmes that work — that are relevant to their challenges, tailored to their needs, and proven to make a difference.

That means moving beyond surveys and siloed HR initiatives, towards holistic, personalised, data-informed support that delivers measurable impact for both people and the business.

At PowerUp, we help organisations understand what truly drives sustainable performance across every generation in their workforce — and give managers the tools to act on it. Because when benefits truly work for your people, they work for your business.

Stay tuned for the final post in our “Performance, Rewritten” series: Understanding the Human Side of AI

Discover the other posts: ‘4 Habits Every Future-Ready Manager Needs in the Age of AI’ and ‘What High-Performance Cultures Do Differently’.