It’s a new year. Many of us make resolutions in pursuit of our own personal or professional improvement, and they often revolve around aspects of life such as eating healthier, moving our bodies more, or committing to a new hobby.
Similarly, many organizations use the new year as a chance to make changes in budgeting, strategy, and possibly personnel. And, as with any type of change, we often see new behavior emerge. Businesses take certain cues from other businesses, leading to the birth of new trends.
These trends shape the lives of millions of workers in the U.S. Sometimes, they improve working conditions, and sometimes, they create more challenges. We can’t see the future or know for sure which trends will gain a foothold, but we can certainly make educated guesses based on influencing factors like the economy, technology, and human behavior to forecast the year ahead.
Let’s examine some emerging workplace trends for 2025, as well as trends from last year that didn’t serve us.
Workplace Trends 2025: What’s In, What’s Out
This year, leaders will need to note the trends that organically inspire engagement. Mandatory yoga retreats and free coffee in the breakroom aren’t enough to make people feel valued. Here are the trends we think will gain traction, and some that should take a backseat.
👍 Hybrid Schedules
👎 Fully In-office
More and more workers who can work from home are asking for the right to do so, even just two to three days per week. While some leaders believe fully in-office is the best way to engage their workforce, 82 percent of leaders “say they intend to let employees work remotely at least part of the time,” per a Gartner survey reported by SHRM.
Questions about remote worker productivity should be put to rest at last. According to a Stanford study, hybrid work increases employee retention through higher job satisfaction, saving companies millions of dollars. From the many other studies about remote or hybrid employee productivity, we can clearly see a divide in opinion, though the majority of leaders say hybrid work is a net positive.
👍 Improving Worker Treatment
👎 Treating Employees as Numbers
In 2023 and 2024, we saw an increase in worker strikes at large corporations and healthcare facilities over issues like unsafe working conditions, poor compensation, and insufficient staffing.
Nerdwallet summarized a report from Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations (ILR) and found that worker strikes increased by 141 percent in 2023 and 2024, with no signs of slowing down in 2025, as we saw in late December 2024/early January 2025 when ski patrol workers went on strike in Park City, UT
While smaller organizations may not experience worker strikes, they are still at risk of losing their top talent if they choose not to treat their workers with respect and adequately compensate them.
👍 Re-engagement
👎 The Great Detachment
It’s been a challenging few years for workers. Layoffs, tight job markets, and the economy have created a trifecta of frustration that has perpetuated the trend of low employee engagement. According to Gallup, even though engagement ticked up slightly in 2024, it is still well below pre-pandemic levels. The same study found that 51 percent of employees are searching for new opportunities, while only 18 percent claim to be “extremely satisfied” in their current role.
Changes in employee behavior—like Quiet Quitting or The Great Detachment—have resulted in many different types of responses from employers, such as mandatory return-to-office, expanded Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives, and doubling down on past strategies, whether they were effective or not.
Finding ways to re-engage these workers will be crucial in the coming year. Disengaged employees are less productive, more prone to burnout, and likely to leave, costing the organization resources by way of needing to hire and onboard new employees.
👍 Focusing on Environmental Impact
👎 Ignoring Climate Change
The Amazon worker strike of 2024 (which ended with no resolution) was centered around discussions about pay, worker treatment, and sick leave. However, there was one lesser-reported issue involved: climate practices.
Workers have long complained about Amazon’s commitment (or lack thereof) to sustainability. Because the retail giant often helps shape the economy, it can set the bar for what a sustainable company looks like.
At The Receptionist, we are constantly searching for new ways to honor our commitment to sustainability. In 2024, we joined the Sustainable Packaging Coalition (SPC) and are looking toward the future as we reimagine ways to make our packaging more environmentally friendly.
👍 Improving Feedback and Recognition
👎 Unclear Expectations
One reason for low employee engagement is a lack of understanding about job and role expectations. Clarifying these expectations ensures everyone knows what they should be doing at all times, leading to increased retention.
Feedback and recognition are two important ingredients in your recipe for employee engagement. They improve worker performance and help employees feel valued and heard.
Does feedback in your organization go both ways? Are employees able to give feedback to managers? If not, you could be missing valuable opportunities for positive change in your organization. When leaders ignore input from their employees or discourage them from giving feedback at all, they may move forward with strategies that don’t accurately reflect the customer experience, leading the organization into less profitable territory.
Finally, it’s important to implement some sort of recognition program in your organization. People like to feel appreciated. It doesn’t have to be costly or complicated. At The Receptionist, employees and managers can give one another “kudos” points when someone goes above and beyond to help someone else or who demonstrates one of the company’s values in an exemplary way. Those points can then be turned into gift cards to specific stores or restaurants.
Of course, that’s just one example of a recognition program. You can find more ideas here.
Why It Matters
If people are capable of change, then organizations are too.
When leaders prioritize the people who work for them, the organization benefits through higher engagement, increased productivity, and greater retention. All of these work together to save the company money.
People are a business’s most valuable asset. Treat them as such by listening to them, considering their ideas, and trusting them to do the jobs for which they were hired.
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