More than one-third of employees are likely to quit their job in the next 12 months, with Gen Z, 38%, and millennials, 37%, the most likely to leave, according to the EY 2023 Work Reimagined Survey.

The survey finds a disconnect between employee and employer expectations and motivations, with more than 50% of the employers believe that slowing economic growth is reducing employees’ likelihood to quit.

“Even with the current economic turbulence, more than a third of the workforce is still looking to change jobs in search for better pay to keep up with inflation and an employee value proposition that fits their post-pandemic life and priorities,” said Liz Fealy, EY Global People Advisory Services Deputy Leader and Workforce Advisory Leader in a statement. 

“Employers need to preserve their critical talent by co-creating the future of the organization with strategies that reflect employees’ priorities and ultimately build trust and better retention,” explains Fealy.

This survey, which is the fourth in a series,  asked more than 17,000 employees and 1,575 employers across 22 countries and 25 industry sectors globally. 

It finds that the shifting balance of power in the workplace remains in employees’ favor despite slowing economic growth, EY said in a statement.

At pre-pandemic levels, 53% of all respondents believed that the balance of power in the workplace was held by employers and just 24% by employees. But by 2022 (mid-pandemic), the gap was 44% for employers vs. 37% for employees; now the gap stands at 46% for employer power versus 32% for employees.

“To keep up with ongoing demands, employers need to both reimagine and right-size their real estate, given expectations for a collaborative office experience and volumes of space impacted by ongoing demands for flexibility. Employers also must not be fooled into thinking that compensation is no longer a top priority, especially as they fight to attract and retain talent,” explains Feinsod.

The survey identifies key three trends: The push and pull factors, Bridging the employee-employer disconnect and Generative AI in the workplace.

According to EY,  pay remains the top concern for employees. However, it has ranked as the third highest concern for employers, who are more focused on attracting new talent and retaining talent which highlights the disconnect in workplace priorities.

Moreover, there remains a clear gap between employers’ and employees’ optimism about leadership alignment on new ways of working. “While 73% of employers agree managers and leadership are aligned on new ways of working (e.g., work schedule, time off, remote and hybrid work), only 55% of employees agree,” EY said in a statement. 

Finally, the company said that while generative artificial intelligence’s (GenAI) potential is still being realised, there is a growing momentum and a generally positive outlook on how the technology will impact new ways of working, “with 48% of employees anticipating GenAI will improve flexibility and 84% of employers currently using or planning to use the GenAI within the next 12 months,” EY explains. 

That said, only 18% of employers plan to provide training on GenAI-related skills.

“With the emergence of GenAI in the new working world, employers have an opportunity to focus on learning and upskilling, which is both attractive to talent and critical to anticipating the future workforce needs of the organization. Businesses that are technologically evolved, while placing humans at the center of this evolution, are inherently agile and resilient and will see markedly better outcomes than those that aren’t,” said Fealy.