Something has gone wrong in the relationship between employees and their work. Mercer’s 2026 Global Talent Trends research, covering more than 11,800 voices across 16 geographies, reveals a sharp decline in how people experience their jobs. The proportion of employees who say they are thriving has dropped from 66% in 2024 to just 44% today. This is lower than during the pandemic. It is the lowest level recorded since Mercer began tracking the metric.
What Thriving Actually Means
Thriving at work is not about happiness. It is about energy. It is the sense that your work matters, that you are growing, and that you have what you need to succeed. Thriving employees drive productivity, innovation, and resilience. They are the people who volunteer ideas, take calculated risks, and stay when others leave.
When thriving drops, organizations lose more than morale. They lose the discretionary effort that separates adequate performance from exceptional performance. They lose the creativity that comes from feeling safe. They lose the retention that comes from believing your future is here.
Why This Is Happening
The decline coincides with an unprecedented wave of organizational change. 98% of organizations are planning some form of transformation to increase productivity and sustainability. Most of those changes involve greater AI adoption. Employees see the changes coming. They are not confident they will survive them.
More than half of employees say they are not confident they have the right skills to thrive in the future . Anxiety about job loss due to AI has jumped from 28% in 2024 to 40% in 2026 . When employees believe their jobs are at risk, thriving becomes impossible. Survival replaces growth. Fear replaces curiosity.
The Disengagement That Follows
Unfulfilled employees do not always leave. They stay and deliver just enough to get by . This is the quiet disengagement that drains productivity without showing up in turnover metrics. People remain on payrolls. They attend meetings. They complete assigned tasks. But the spark is gone.
The data shows the consequences. Unfulfilled employees are half as likely to believe they can build a meaningful career at their company. They are half as likely to feel their input is genuinely valued . They stop investing in a future they no longer believe in.
What Organizations Are Missing
HR executives say their number one priority for 2026 is to improve the employee experience and strengthen their employee value proposition . The intention is there. The execution is not.
The gap between intention and reality is where thriving collapses. Organizations announce transformations. They deploy new tools. They restructure teams. But they do not address the fundamental question employees are asking: What does this mean for me?
How Moody At Work Resolves This Issue
Moody At Work helps organizations see the disengagement that turnover metrics miss. Through continuous engagement tracking, companies identify where employees are disconnecting before they fully check out. Anonymous feedback channels reveal what employees cannot say directly about their fears and frustrations.
Recognition programs reinforce the connection between contribution and meaning. Real time data enables leaders to measure thriving, not just attendance.
The 44% who are thriving are not asking for guarantees. They are asking for clarity. They are asking for skills development that prepares them for what is coming. They are asking for leaders who acknowledge the anxiety and respond to it.
Moody At Work helps organizations deliver.
Source: Mercer 2026 Global Talent Trends Research