The world has changed significantly since the start of the Oliver Wyman Forum’s 300,000 Voices project, a five-year global survey measuring people’s values and attitudes towards health, work, finances and AI.

Whereas the world of work was struggling to come to terms with the ‘new normal’ of COVID-19 in 2020, employees and leaders alike are now faced with navigating a consistently changing landscape driven by technology advancements, social and geopolitical transformation, and rising cost pressures.

Comprising recurring consumer surveys among some 300,000 respondents across 20 countries, the Voices report has plenty to chew over for HR leaders – from leadership credibility gaps and outdated leadership models, to employee fulfilment as a priority and declining mental and physical wellbeing.

“The global pandemic was just the beginning; social upheaval, geopolitical conflict, economic shocks, and technological advancement have left people unsettled and introspective, focusing their energy on things they can control,” the research foreword notes.

UNLEASH dug into the findings of 300,000 Voices to uncover the key takeaways for HR leaders seeking to understand how interconnected and changing social, economic, and personal dynamics are influencing the future of work.

Trust, proximity and visibility needed to bridge the leadership credibility gap

The research shows that the trust landscape has “changed dramatically” over the past five years, with people now more likely to trust those closer and similar to them.

Trust in government bodies (both local and national), social media and mainstream news have all dropped in that time, whereas trust in ‘people like you’ and employers (56% to 64%) have increased.

Despite this, there is also a growing frustration with business leadership, particularly among younger workers.

Just under one quarter of respondents (24%) selected “suboptimal leadership” as a top five area of dissatisfaction as of May last year – relative to a 59% rise since August 2023.

Meanwhile, around half (51%) of those surveyed believe their organizations’ leadership model is outdated and needs to change, with Gen Z 37% more likely to feel this way compared to the Baby Boomer generation.

“Many leadership models haven’t kept up. Firms talk a fluent language of empowerment and agility yet quietly maintain the approvals, controls, and inherited hierarchy of another era,” the research states. 

The tools leaders inherited weren’t built for a workforce this fractured – or a world moving this fast.”

Furthermore, a growing cohort of workers want to spend more time with authentic leaders. 

One in three employees said increased time spent with managers and leaders would improve their work experience, a relative increase of 74% since 2021, while employees who see leaders as inauthentic are 3.6 times more likely to be dissatisfied.

Another significant finding was that more than one third of Gen Z respondents would prefer an AI manager.

“This is not a blanket request to be managed by machines. More likely, it reflects frustration with human leadership that can feel inconsistent, slow to respond, or unclear about how decisions get made,” the research notes.

For HR leaders, increased development in emotional intelligence, transparency, and inclusive communication among senior leadership, as well as embracing authenticity, will be vital going forward – to be evidenced by consistent action and proximity, rather than rhetoric.

Unfulfilled employees are doing just enough in the ‘Age of Bare Adequacy’

Fulfilment has quickly become a key factor for employees, rising from eighth to second place in the top grievances among workers in the last two years.

A lack of purpose is the fast-growing complaint among workers since 2023, followed by a lack of respect or recognition and conflict with workplace policies.

Compensation and benefits sits at the top of worker grievances, with other factors including inadequate learning, development, and growth, and suboptimal management and/or leadership also represented among the top ten complaints.

However, of greater significance is that lacking fulfilment is not enough to make workers actively seek out new roles. Instead, they are staying with organizations and putting in the bare minimum required.

The research labels this trend “the workplace’s quietest crisis” as organizations, and HR leaders in particular, face the uphill task of motivating a disengaged workforce that are also reporting declining levels of physical and mental wellbeing (down 9% since 2021).

The 26% of workers who said they are fulfilled at work are “significantly more likely” to feel valued, believe they can build a career with their employer, and feel confident in senior leadership.

“Since 2023, lack of fulfilment has surged from a muted frustration to the second-most-cited workplace complaint behind compensation. No other sentiment has moved as far or as fast,” the research says.

Fewer than half of employees say they feel fulfilled at work. Leaders are rightly focused on AI as a powerful performance engine, but fulfilment is the fuel that keeps workers engaged, willing to adapt, and productive.”

Skills may be the answer to disengaged workers, but access and focus remains patchy

The research labels the current trends as “the Age of Bare Adequacy”, wherein employees are stuck between constrictive personal financial pressures and unfulfilling work, leaving them “both more anxious and less inspired.”

Skills development is cited in the research as a key factor in helping to reengage employees.

Indeed, the gap between unfulfilled and fulfilled employees concerning skills is clear: 31% of the former and 60% of the latter stated they are building the skills they need to develop their careers.

For their part, a growing proportion of organizations have moved to a skills-based hiring model by 2025 (up 57% since 2022), while employees believe access to training would most improve their work experience (growing 98% since 2021).

This desire for training and development isn’t limited to younger workers either, as interest among Baby Boomers rose from 8% to 27% in the four years to 2025, representing the highest growth among any generation.

However, the caveat for HR and L&D leaders is that organizations are not delivering on this need among unfulfilled workers.

The research found only one in four workers has they have access to learning opportunities and time to develop new skills, while access also decreases with age – from 28% among Gen Z to 17% for Baby Boomers.

Meanwhile, getting the right type of skills development to employees also appears to be a stumbling block, as the skills workers most want (cross-functional, data literacy, and leadership) are the areas that are currently lacking.

The research states that the “pattern is hard to miss” for leaders.

“Workers across every generation now see training as one of the most important improvements to their work experience. At the same time, access to meaningful development remains patchy and training is skewed toward the familiar rather than the necessary,” it details.

As the half-life of skills continues to fall “from a decade or more to under five years”, it is incumbent on HR leaders to work closely with L&D leaders to develop and implement continuous learning environments that align worker satisfaction needs, organizational strategy requirements and increasingly sophisticated AI tools.

In a labor market where work tasks change faster than job descriptions – and where AI accelerates every shift – the skills-based organization is no longer an aspiration. It is the operating model for survival,” the research warns.