At the beginning of the year, Glassdoor released its Worklife Trends report, highlighting five major trends that were poised to drive transformation in 2025. Now, halfway through the year, these trends are continuing to play out in the world of work.  

Trend One: Employees’ pent-up resentment will boil over 

Two in three professionals on Glassdoor felt stuck in their careers heading into 2025. Career opportunities ratings on the platform fell 3% from 2022 to 2024. The quits rate fell from its peak of 3% in 2022 to 1.9% as workers felt trapped in their current roles. Rising resentment from dissatisfied employees risks a wave of revenge quitting in 2025.  

Thus far in 2025, employees’ satisfaction with their career opportunities has hit a plateau. Current employees have seen their career opportunities ratings remain unchanged at 3.67 in 2024 and 3.68 in 2025. Despite the softening job market (which usually reduces worker willingness to quit), the quits rate has increased modestly from 1.9% in December 2024, bouncing between 2% to 2.1% through April 2025. 

While there hasn’t been an explosion in rage quitting, the rebound in the quits rate and continued pessimism workers have around their career opportunities point to a job market where resentment is still gripping workers.  

Trend Two: Falling down the career ladder will stunt pay and growth for workers 

The weakening job market means more workers are falling down the career ladder, with 17% of workers who changed employers reporting a pay cut in 2024. This share of job changers taking a pay cut was even higher for tech (18%), managers (22%), and managers transitioning to individual contributors (32%). 

The job market has endured a wave of uncertainty in 2025. However, data shows that there hasn’t been a significant increase in the share of job switchers falling down the career ladder and taking a pay cut. Just 17% of job switchers have taken a pay cut this year, same as 2024. While job switching is typically the best way to gain leverage to negotiate a raise internally or externally, the slower hiring environment means fewer opportunities for job switchers to find higher-paying jobs.  

If the low hiring environment continues, wage growth may slow further as job switchers have to settle for lower pay. 

Trend Three: Gen Z will make up one in 10 managers in 2025 

As more Gen Z workers rise in the ranks, Gen Z will comprise one in 10 managers this year, following a similar trajectory to past generations. The bar for what makes a good manager is rising at the same time, with a heavier emphasis on emotional intelligence. 

In April, the share of managers that are Gen Z hit 10% for the first time. To some extend, this was an inevitability as Gen Z continues to age into the workforce. However, despite some claims that Gen Z would break with previous generations in their desire to climb the corporate ladder, the newest generation in the workforce continues to pursue similar goals.  

Gen Z continues to seek out opportunities to climb the management ranks. Increasing pressure will be on them to meet the rising expectations of workers for managers who demonstrate emotional intelligence. 

Trend Four: Side hustle culture fuels new paths to career growth 

Side hustle culture will continue to expand as Americans look for new ways to grow their careers and income. Entrepreneurship has been elevated since the pandemic, and younger workers in particular are more amenable to side gigs.  

In 2025 so far, entrepreneurship and prime-age labor force participation have slowed slightly while the share of workers doing multiple jobs has increased slightly, likely reflecting a desire to boost income amid an uncertain economy. Rather than a cultural shift towards portfolio careers, this seems more like an nuanced economic shift as workers responsibly diversify a portfolio of income streams. 

Trend Five: Employers are investing in holistic well-being 

About half (48%) of employees feel it’s more difficult to prioritize their mental health at work compared to five years ago. Employers are responding: The share of employees reporting access to mental health care benefits rose 18 percentage points from 2019 to 2024. The mental health challenges employees are facing show no signs of abating. Burnout is an ongoing crisis with mentions of burnout in Glassdoor reviews spiking 73% year-over-year as of May 2025. 

Glassdoor research has found that burnout drags down employees’ opinions of their employer and drives costly turnover for otherwise-satisfied (and likely high-performing) employees, making it critical that employers address this slow-burn burnout crisis. While employers have made significant strides since the pandemic in offering benefits that advance employee well-being, especially on mental health, burnout is a burgeoning crisis among employees. This is an area to watch out for worsening employee well-being, especially if a slowing economy crimps benefits budgets.