📊 The workplace is experiencing a profound transformation — and not all of it is positive, according to Glassdoor’s latest Worklife Trends report. Workers and their leaders are drifting further apart, creating a disconnect that threatens to reshape the employment landscape for years to come.

After the turbulence of 2025, employees and employers now find themselves on opposite sides of a widening chasm. With the job market softening, AI advancing rapidly, and policy uncertainty mounting, the relationship between workers has become more strained than ever. Here’s what the data reveals about where we’re headed.

A crisis of trust: Perhaps the most alarming finding in the report is the dramatic erosion of trust between employees and their leaders. Ratings of senior leadership have plummeted to levels well below their pandemic peak, when leaders earned high marks for navigating unprecedented challenges. In Glassdoor reviews mentioning senior leadership, references to “disconnect” increased by 24% from 2024 to 2025, and mentions of “misalignment” surged by 149%, while “miscommunication,” “distrust,” and “hypocrisy” all saw double-digit increases.

This decline in trust varies by industry, but is particularly pronounced in management and consulting, media and communications, and technology — sectors that once boasted exceptional employee confidence. The report cites the tech industry’s transformation from offering “dream jobs” to what they now call the “shut up and grind” era, and consulting firms struggling to develop effective AI strategies despite being positioned to lead the transformation.

The root cause is clear: Workers feel they’ve lost leverage in the job market, and they’re skeptical that leadership decisions will protect their interests amid layoffs, RTO mandates, and AI-driven changes.

The “forever layoff” era: Adding to employee anxiety is a troubling new trend that Glassdoor researchers call the “forever layoff.” Rather than conducting large, infrequent workforce reductions, companies are now implementing smaller, rolling layoffs that create perpetual uncertainty. Small layoffs — describing layoffs that affect fewer than 50 workers — may not make the same headlines as Amazon’s recent 30k dismissals announcement, but they’re taking a psychological toll on remaining employees, who simultaneously shoulder more work and wonder if they might be next. This persistent drumbeat of cuts is eroding morale and creating cultures defined by anxiety and resentment.

Job seekers in survival mode: The softening job market has fundamentally changed candidate behavior. Job applicants were 12% less likely to reject an offer in 2025 than in 2023, with hiring rates at a 10-year low. The message is clear: workers are taking what they can get. Declining an offer requires confidence that has evaporated, and the trend risks creating a workforce of mismatched employees stuck in positions that don’t serve career goals, potentially slowing income growth and deepening the engagement crisis already affecting workers.

As we head into 2026, the challenge for both workers and leaders will be finding ways to bridge the growing divide and work together to navigate ongoing uncertainty. The data suggests this won’t be easy — with power dynamics tilted towards employers, workers feeling disengaged, and transformative technologies like AI still finding their place, the workplace of 2026 will require new approaches to leadership, communication, and mutual commitment.

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