117 HR Stats You Need to Know to Build a Better Workplace This Year

HR will continue to evolve into a more strategic role within your organization and industry.

That’s why knowledge is power. Yesterday’s problem could be today’s solution. This year’s disaster could be next year’s greatest triumph.

To build your knowledge, we’ve pulled together 117 HR stats that will help you understand the state of the workforce and human resources management.

How HR Stats Can Help

These stats also might help you commiserate, celebrate or contemplate where your team is and where it’s headed in 2026.

We cover the most important topics for HR leaders these days: Talent Acquisition. Diversity and Equity. Employee Well-Being. Remote and Hybrid Models. Technology and AI. Compensation and Benefits. Learning & Development. Company Culture.

We’ve only included studies, research and data gathered in 2025, so you have the most up-to-date stats.

Even better, we link you to the actual studies behind the data so you can dig deeper or use the information to back up your initiatives and C-level requests.

Here you go:

Talent Acquisition

• It takes an average of 50 days to fill a role for an open position, which has nearly doubled in the past two years, according to inFeedo.ai
• More than half of employees are looking for a different job than the one they currently have, according to Gallup.
• 26% of talent acquisition professionals are experimenting with Gen AI in the hiring process, and 11% have fully integrated it, according to data from LinkedIn.
• 18% of job candidates have used AI during the application process, such as for creating or improving resumes or their application content.​ About 45% of job candidates say they have never used an AI generator, according to research from Monster.
• 55% of job applicants are open to interviewing with an AI agent, but 57% still want humans reviewing applications, according to a SHL report.
• The percentage of paid jobs posted on LinkedIn that didn’t require a bachelor’s degree jumped 16% over three years.

• 55% of job seekers are looking to switch careers in a Criteria Corp survey, so they’re figuring out ways to transfer skills and grow, not just align with their current titles.​
• But most get frustrated in their efforts. More than 90% of job seekers report that they rarely or never hear back from employers after submitting an application.
• Here’s why candidates in the Monster survey say they have left the hiring process: the interviewer or recruiter had a bad attitude (50%); poor communication from the company about the application (50%); felt like they had to jump through hoops (42%); being required to write a long presentation (39%).​
• With many businesses dropping degree requirements, 38% of companies are shifting their focus to evaluating skills earlier in the hiring process, according to ZipRecruiter data.
• Good news for hiring managers from the Criteria Corp survey: 42% of job candidates want to stay in their next job for three to five years; 19% figure they’ll be there six to 10 years; and 28% want to stay more than 10 years.​
• But Criteria also found that they do their due diligence before they accept those jobs: 67% of job seekers investigate a company’s financial health before accepting a role.​

Diversity and Equity

• 41% of employees in a Ranstad survey believe that improving equity in the workplace is the employer’s responsibility.
• Meanwhile, 62% of employees in that same survey hide aspects of themselves when they come to work each day.
• 37% of employees in an Indeed survey feel like they don’t belong in their workplace.
• 47% of employees feel their organization’s inclusion and diversity efforts are effective or very effective, according to SHRM, which faced its own diversity issues.
• 76% of organizations maintained or increased their IE&D commitments and activity levels over the past year, despite political and legal headwinds, according to Littler.

• Large companies are more likely to coordinate affinity groups, with 76% of them doing it, compared to 34% of smaller employers doing it, the Littler survey found.
• For the first time in more than 60 years, the gender pay gap expanded for two consecutive years, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. Specifically, full-time females made about 81 cents for every dollar a male made in 2024 — a drop from 83 cents the previous year.
• Almost 60% of employees believe AI is increasing bias, not reducing it, in the workplace, especially in the recruiting process, the SHL report found.

Employee Well-Being

• Employers are increasingly designing well-being programs to help employees in all areas of life. The CIPD found employers design well-being programs around: mental health (89%), values/principles (88%), good work (84%), social health (83%), personal growth (80%), physical health (75%), financial well-being (68%, and good lifestyle choices (66%).
• Just 26% of employees say they’re thriving at work, which is down from 29% a few years ago, according to the Indeed Well-Being Annual Report.
• Comparatively, only about 57% of employees agree they’re in “good” holistic health, which encompasses physical, mental and social aspects, according to McKinsey research.
• But the Indeed survey found employees believe they can thrive at work: 97% believe it’s possible for people to be happy at work most of the time, and 87% believe it’s important to find a company that cares about how they feel.
• Still, Indeed researchers found they want more: 46% of employees say their well-being expectations are higher than they were just a year ago.
• If employees thrive, employers thrive: McKinsey researchers estimate that improvements in employee health are linked to about $11.7 trillion in potential economic value through reduced absenteeism, lower turnover and better productivity.
• Employees who report good mental health are 34% more likely to stay with their employer and 37% less likely to report burnout than those with poorer mental well-being, according to a report from the WebMD Health Services Center for Research.
• 97% of job seekers in the Indeed survey want to see well-being data on companies throughout their job searches to help them evaluate employers. They say it’s most critical before they even start applying.
• Employees who felt their employer genuinely cared about them had 70% higher overall well-being scores across physical, mental, social, work and financial dimensions compared with those who did not feel cared for. the WebMD report found.
• Mental health was the top cause of long-term absence from work, cited by 41% of employees in the survey as one of their top three causes for their absences, a CIPD study found.
• The same study found that minor illnesses were, by far, the main reason for short-term absence, cited by 78% of employees.
• 66% of employees say financial stress is negatively affecting their work and personal life. And 83% HR are worried that those financial concerns are affecting workplace productivity, according to a Morgan Stanley study.
• Employee burnout is at a six-year high. 72% of employees in an Aflac survey experience at least moderate burnout — the highest level since 2019.
• Gen Z is the most burned-out generation at 74%, followed by millennials at 66% in the Aflac analysis.

• The top way employees want help in dealing with burnout: increased time off. That’s what 55% of them said in the Aflac survey, followed by options to work from home (42%) and self-care programs (40%).

Remote Work and Hybrid Models

• The U.S. office vacancy rate remains around 14%, and is expected to drop to about 13.5% in 2026, according to data from real-estate data firm CoStar. Of the 12 largest markets the firm tracks, five are at their highest levels in 25 years: Employees are still working from home more than ever.
• 33% of people wouldn’t apply to a job that requires them to work on-site in person five days a week, according to the Monster study.
• When it comes to productivity, employees in that Monster study had thoughts on what works best: 37% believe being in the office is best; 33% prefer remote; 30% prefer a hybrid model.

• 82% of employees who don’t work already work on-site full-time told the Monster researchers they would be willing to look for a new job if they were required to return to the office full-time.
• 68% of HR leaders think their team members are more productive in the office, while only 38% of employees agree, according to a Logitech study.
• 63% of workers face tech issues on the days they go in, the Logitech researchers found.
• Almost 90% of employees feel pressured to be “on call” for work, even after the workday ends, at home or from the office, an Adobe survey found.
• More than 50% of employees in the Adobe survey think work-related notifications blurred the line between personal and professional lives.

AI and Technology

• 40% of employees in the Ranstad survey trust that their employers will invest and provide opportunities for continuous learning, particularly in AI and technology.
• 40% of employees in the same survey consider AI their most sought-after training topic.
• 77% of companies now have official policies regarding the use of personal AI tools at work, but 33% of employees say those policies don’t meet their work requirements, according to a Cybernews report.
• 59% of employees in that same report said they use unauthorized AI tools at work. But many of them say their direct manager knows they’re using it.
• 75% of those people told Cybernews researchers that using unauthorized AI tools sometimes puts potentially sensitive or confidential company information into the tools, such as employee or customer data or internal documents.
• Employees’ irresponsible use of AI is reflected in their perception of how their companies use it: 27% of employees fully trust their employer to use AI responsibly, according to the SHL survey.
• That leads to this sentiment: 58% in the SHL survey say they prefer that a human be the only one who makes decisions about their job performance.

• 84% of large organizations in an ADP study agree AI will help streamline processes but will not replace employees, 76% of mid-sized organizations agree, and 73% of small organizations agree.
• And as those organizations adopt AI, they maintain oversight. About 66% of large companies report they maintain governance for generative AI, 50% of mid-sized companies do and 20% of small businesses do.

Compensation and Benefits

• 95% of employees said their pay hasn’t kept up with the rising cost of living, according to a Monster Cost-of-Living survey.
• Some companies are responding: 9% of employees in that Monster survey said they received a raise or salary adjustment to offset higher costs.
• Meanwhile, 76% of employees feel economic policies have affected their financial planning.
• While 57% of employers in the ZipRecruiter Annual Employer Survey kept base pay unchanged in 2025, 61% plan to raise salaries this year.
• 17% of employees feel fairly compensated in their role right now, according to an Achievers survey.
• Employees who feel appreciated are 17x more likely to see a long-term career at their company, the Achievers survey found.
• 58% of employees will stay at their job specifically because of the health, retirement and family benefits. More than half of them say it’s the retirement and family benefits that mean the most, a Payroll Integrations survey found.
• 78% of employers believe their employees can handle the financial burden of their health care expenses, an Aflac Employee Well-Being study found. But 44% of employees say they couldn’t cover $1,000 in unexpected medical expenses.

• But when it comes to financial well-being, education is key:  93% of HR executives and 85% of employees in the Morgan Stanley survey agree their companies still need to do a better job helping employees understand and maximize the financial benefits available to them.

Company Culture

• Overall job satisfaction is up 5.7% in the past year – the biggest year-over-year rise in 40 years, according to the 2025 Resume Genius Job Satisfaction Statistics Report.
• At almost 70%, women’s job satisfaction surpassed men’s at 68% in the Resume Genius report for the first time since 2011.
• 1 in 3 employees have quit a job because they didn’t agree with the viewpoints or stances of the leadership at their organization, the Ranstad report found.
• 85% of employees say they perform better at work when there is a sense of community around them, Ranstad found.
• Also, 31% have quit because their careers didn’t progress in the ways they expected or wanted.
• 44% of people have quit a job because they were working in a toxic culture, according to Ranstad researchers.

• A toxic culture is 10x more likely than low pay to drive resignations, the Resume Genius survey found.
• What keeps employees? 83% say work-life balance is the most important motivator when it comes to staying at their jobs, according to Ranstad.
• 68% of people in the Indeed study absolutely believe companies have a responsibility to create an environment where they can thrive.
• 66% of employees in the Monster survey feel they have worked in a toxic environment, and 61% say they would rather quit or be laid off than remain in that kind of workplace. So, in most cases, they aren’t willing to work at improving the culture. They just want out.

Learning and Development

• 72% of employees in the Ranstad study consider training and development important to their current and future employment.
• 56% of employers said they will need to help their employees develop better decision-making and problem-solving skills next year, according to a Together Trends Report. Behind those come digital fluency (44%), and leadership skills (42%).

• 61% of organizations have adopted or are testing AI in their L&D strategies, the Together report found.
• 72% of employees and 73% of executives agree in a Deloitte survey that their organizations should do more to help workers gain experience beyond formal training
• While most organizations beef up L&D, they leave one thing to chance, the Together report found: institutional knowledge. 44% of companies don’t have any form of social learning program.
• 70% of learning and development pros say internal mobility is a top priority when it comes to training within their organizations, according to LinkedIn research.
• What’s more, according to LinkedIn, only 26% of organizations actively teach employees how to use AI tools in their work, even though 80% of employees want to learn more about how AI applies to their jobs.
• 91% of L&D professionals say learning is critical to their business strategy – up from 83% the prior year: Now, it’s more than a means to retain employees. LinkedIn researchers found.
• But there’s a problem: 50% of managers aren’t equipped to support employee growth at most organizations, LinkedIn found.