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The Bosshole® Chronicles
The Bosshole® Chronicles
Glassdoor’s 2026 Worklife Trends Every Manager Must Face
Trust is thinning across today’s workplaces, and the cracks aren’t coming from the usual suspects alone. We dive into Glassdoor’s 2026 worklife trends and unpack what managers and teams are actually feeling: a power swing back to employers, a rise in “forever layoffs,” remote work turning into a career trade-off, and AI anxiety that’s more about leadership choices than the tools themselves. Along the way, we share what to fix first and how to do it without adding noise or burnout.
- Click HERE for the Glassdoor article
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Welcome back to The Bosshole Chronicles to all of our good friends out there in The Bosshole Transformation Nation. This is John Broer, welcoming you to another installment of the program. And today I'll be joined by none other than everybody's favorite, Sara Best, my good friend, my business partner, and quite frankly, somebody with whom I love to have these conversations because today we're going to look through an article that was published last November of 2025 from Glassdoor, and it is Glassdoor's Work life Trends of 2026. They look at six specific trends for the new year that we want all of our managers and supervisors and business owners to be focused on and make sure that you're prepared for them and doing everything you can to make sure that some of them don't manifest themselves. So sit back, check it out, a link to the article is in the show notes. Let's dig into the analysis. Enjoy today's episode. Hey everybody, welcome back to The Bosshole Chronicles. John, how are you, sir? I'm good. I'm very good, Sara. I'm real good, as a matter of fact. Yeah, well, it's a bonus to get to share the space again today. We have a juicy topic for today's episode. John, what will we be talking about today? Well, a couple weeks ago, Sara, I came across an article. It was actually published in Forbes, but it was the 2026 trends that Glassdoor has published for the new year. For our listeners, over the last couple of weeks, you've been listening to uh our two-parter that we did on navigating change and uncertainty in the workplace. And I just thought that the five trends that were highlighted in the Glassdoor research would be super helpful for everybody. And I just thought we could spend a little bit of time talking about those and uh what people can expect. Nice, John. I think that's very timely. We're all acutely aware that this is a different uh dynamic. The dynamics at work or in the world of work have shifted pretty continuously since 2020. But we have some pretty definitive details, John. Tell us about the number one issue or trend we're going to be seeing here in 2026. I will do that. But before I do, one of the things in the lead up, and we'll put a link to the article in the in the show notes, so feel free to go and check that out. Is they have highlighted a real shift in leverage. And you mentioned 2020, you know, coming out of the pandemic or during the pandemic, we we saw that there was a higher level of engagement. Managers, supervisors had to be dialed in. And if you know, we were experiencing this and people really seemed to step up to the plate. And there was a considerable amount of leverage on the on the part of the employee. And remote work, virtual work became the norm, or for in some markets, very much the norm. Well, that is So basically, John, what what you're saying is if if companies wanted to keep their employees, they needed to be uh responsive to the need to work at home and these other things. Very much so. Very much so. And I mean, and for some of them, it was because policy, they just couldn't be there. But as we moved away from the pandemic, this leverage has shifted. And there have been other impact, you know, other variables impacting that, you know, the economy. You know, we were explaining experiencing some inflation. There were there, there were just different things happening. But now these trends that Glassdoor has highlighted, I think, have really pointed out that the leverage has tipped over. So the leverage has shifted back to the employer. Correct. And um, this would naturally potentially create some disconnect. And I think that's what's highlighted here, isn't it? Employee leader disconnect. So, John, yeah, what tell us about trend number one. Okay. So, trend number one is that the trust gap between managers, leaders, and direct reports has diminished. And there is what they were referring to is a high degree of misalignment. So, in other words, the word misalignment, and one of the things that Classdoor does is they do track specific words in terms of employee feedback and misalignment increased by 149% between 2024 and 2025. And so other words beyond misalignment were disconnect, distrust, miscommunication. And what they're saying is that these words are appearing not just in a slightly greater amount, but the you know, surging, if you will. I mean, they are they are significantly higher. And so what they are highlighting is their first key trend in 2026 is this significant amount of misalignment between employees and their managers. So how does that hit you? Well, we we've long known that trust is significant, its impact on bottom line results and you know, the cultivation of trust being such a critical part of a healthy culture. I've known this for a long time. But when I see things like, ooh, employee ratings of senior leadership have steadily declined since 2023. Uh, and uh employees are skeptical, not because leaders are inactive, but because decisions feel opaque, misaligned, and one-sided. So we know from Lynchioni's team triangle that you gotta have trust, you gotta have psychological and safety and I'm sorry, psychological safety and trust in order to have conflict. And conflict or information, sharing, getting feedback, you know, having people weigh in is what creates the buy-in. So I'm not surprised that misalignment is a key word. If communications are one-sided, if employers are kind of taking the reins back and going, this is the way it's gonna be, we would imagine that people would feel discounted, dismissed, and therefore not trusting of leadership intentions. Yeah. Oh, for sure. And one of the things that the Glassdoor article points out is the term they use is a power shift. So the power shift dynamics has moved, just as we talked about. But the one thing that I think is interesting when they say a shift in power dynamics came at the same time as other major changes in the way we work. For example, layoffs, which we're going to talk about, return to office, and how is AI transforming or potentially transforming the workplace? And those are are captured in the other ones. But the biggest one they lead with is this misalignment. Now, that jumped out at me, Sarah. And one of the reasons I wanted to talk about this is simply because in our world, one of the diagnostic tools we use, line of sight, is specifically built to help us diagnose misalignment at in a number of different variables across the enterprise, across the organization. So if you feel that there is misalignment, and according to Glassdoor, this is something that is going to be very commonplace. Up there are ways to diagnose it and then think about ways to fix it. So misalignment is number one. Another trend that they identified is what they're calling the forever layoff. And this is a little bit unique and a little bit different, is that what I take away is that these layoffs are smaller. They are more specific rather than these mass layoffs or these massive rifts, that in reality, smaller parts of an organization or even in smaller organizations are just being eliminated. And what's happening is, as they're saying, it's just eroding the culture of the organization. And to your point before before, the uncertainty, the anxiety, and to a degree resentment is being felt by the people that are remaining. Well, and I think it's goes without saying that you then are in an environment where everyone's like walking on pins and needles, like, ooh, who's next? And then the guilt, hey, I didn't get I didn't get it this time. Ooh, lucky me, but feeling guilty about being one of the ones left behind. I think the the other part of that, the unsaid part, is when people leave, there's still all that work to do. Right.
Sara Best:So who gets that extra work? It's the people who are left behind.
John Broer:Yeah.
Sara Best:I love how they say, John, there's a leadership implication here to um this forever layoff kind of deal. Job insecurity is no longer episodic. It's ambient. So I I just I visualize this ambient layoff sort of mentality. Leaders must actively counterfear with communication context and humanity. Like we got to treat people like people. We got to recognize that dregulated, nervous, anxious, frustrated, resentful people are not going to do their best work. Therefore, we're not going to have the right outcomes. I see the words communication, context, and humanity. And you and I would say, well, of course that's what's needed. But apparently these are still fairly unique. I mean, that's the that's the way we approach our work. It's almost like getting back to, and not to step over it, but you know, back to the idea of the misalignment. One of the implications of that was leadership isn't about charisma, it's about clarity, consistency, and follow-through. I want to go back to something you emphasized in the last part two of the navigating, you know, change and uncertainty is understanding what is within our crow, our sphere of control. And for managers and supervisors, it is absolutely within your control to create clarity or provide clarity, be consistent, and follow through. For our managers and supervisors listening out there, don't let these trends automatically define how your year is going to go. Think about how you can control these. Well, clarity and consistency are the name of the game. It's a leader's job to drive for clarity, to actually seek for and establish clarity. And you can't get to that without weigh-in or buy-in from people. Right. So I I maybe there's a misconception for some of our leaders out there that they somehow have to drive the answer and the solution that was decided. And if people resist or have concerns, you know, they're just gonna have to figure it out.
John Broer:Yeah.
Sara Best:The reality is the concerns, the questions, the challenges to uh the plan are exactly what help unearth potential issues, and it's what helps people buy into the whole thing. I know I'm talking very basic, like most people know this stuff already, but it it's not rocket science. Right. And it it's not. Go go ahead. Sorry, sorry. Well, I just think it's default. Like I imagine some leaders going, oh, this this is really what we have to do, and we're not stopping, and we're gonna just make this come to life, whether people like it or not. Or worse yet, the leadership team has talked about it so much, they're all bought in. Yeah, but they didn't spend any time enrolling everybody else and finding out if their ideas are even connecting with reality. Yep. Yeah, that is so true. I I wanted to get back. I think your comment of this is so this is this is very much common sense, and and I we're providing basic stuff clearly based on the trends that they're seeing. The basics are where we need to focus. There's no question about that. So let's talk about number three. I am really I was really fascinated by this one. And the third trend is that remote work is becoming a career trade-off. Sarah, when you read that, what was your what was your reaction when you saw that? Well, I I namely employees perceive that being visible in the office now matters more than performance alone. Like they're getting graded. And I think, you know, the pendulum did swing that most organizations or some organizations are being very specific about the requirements and the request to be in office. Right. So that leverage point comes to mind. A couple of years ago, employees could kind of demand or request that they work remote. Today they don't seem to have that option. It's not the flexibility that it was before, but workers still value that. That's the challenge. Workers still value flexibility, right? But I the sense is that they're forced to choose between work-life balance and investment. Like if I'm gonna get promoted, I better have my butt in that chair at least three days a week or more. And maybe that's playing out internally in our organizations too, that there's a bias toward people who are showing up because they're getting their work done or they're being seen. It's this idea that uh, you know, that the emphasis on remote work is is waning. It's dropping, and emphasis on being in office is highlighted. If you want visibility and potentially to get promoted, or at least that's the way people are looking at it. I I found in the article where it said mandates varied. Well, we've talked about this. I mean, there have been in the last two years, I mean, huge organizations that have absolutely dropped the hammer and said, there is no more virtual work. You we want you all back at the office. By the way, this is after they allowed some people to move away to very remote locations. But according to the article, mandates varied substantially in terms of the number of in-office days required and the threatened penalties for non-compliance. Uh, but they did little to decrease aggregate work-from-home rates. And and they they actually highlight an economist from Stanford, Nick Bloom. And I thought this was great. This is a great analogy. He has likened the return to office mandates as kind of like jaywalking laws or laws against jaywalking. Everybody knows about them, but compliance and enforcement is spotty. So it's kind of like saying we require this, but on the other hand, we're not really tracking it. We're not, we're really not managing it very well. And all that does is breed real mistrust and it just erodes culture pretty quickly. Absolutely. It reminds me of a sports team. You know, you you have a voluntary, you have mandatory practice and voluntary practice. Everyone knows that voluntary practice is mandatory, but people still don't come and and they don't necessarily get treated any differently, which is unfair to the people who step up or that the perception is it's unfair. Yeah. Yeah. Yep. I'm with you. Well, well, uh before we hit record, you have a family member who just accepted a great new job, and it's it's a combination, it's a combination of virtual and hybrid, it's hybrid, right?
John Broer:Yeah. Uh-huh.
Sara Best:Which is amazing. I mean, so clearly there are organizations out there that recognize this need, but the this is, I think, the that third trend of the return to office. I think that's probably the most significant indication of how that leverage has shifted. All right. Yeah, yeah. Absolutely. Want me to talk about the fourth one? Yes, please. I mean, essentially it's this idea that AI creates anxiety in everyone, like it's going to take over our jobs. Um, and and that may in fact be the case in some industries, but research to date, we would say that the impact of AI is still very limited. So we see we're seeing uh roles that are exposed to AI AI more specifically, uh, their satisfaction is declining, but only marginally. So we're not seeing this fall off a cliff like people are unhappy that AI is taking over their life or taking over their job.
John Broer:Right.
Sara Best:Um, and it it also, the article highlights that AI isn't isn't the problem yet. They say yet. It isn't the problem yet. How leaders introduce, explain, and support AI adoption is what matters more than the actual tools themselves. So it's I think it's highlighting that um conversations around AI, strategy, and sharing the strategy for AI, educating people about uh the depth and breadth of the tools of AI are a way to stave off the anxiety that you know can shut people down. For sure. Um I I think it's kind of funny because I don't know, I think I'm I'm kind of showing my age here, but the whenever we start to talk about AI, I immediately think of the Terminator movies and this dystopian world where AI does everything and eventually takes over. And if you read some articles over the last 18 months, I mean, there is a real emphasis about so many jobs being eliminated, and that creates a lot of anxiety. And while the anxiety may be there, what Glassdoor is saying is that that impact is perhaps not nearly as profound right now as perhaps it will be. So I think managers, I think to your point, managers and supervisors can think uh very conscientiously about how does AI help us rather than, you know, begin to this ominous idea that it's going to replace everybody. And by the way, I made a mistake. There are six trends. I think I said five. Forgive me. So let's talk about number five. And that is that job seekers are accepting less and not expecting more. I think this is just clear evidence that leverage has shifted and fee and people feel like they have to take something that is less than what they desire or less than what they want. I don't know. I uh I I think about the example you gave, Sarah, of a of a family member of yours who had waited and looked and found something much better. So then this clearly doesn't apply in that case. But what are your thoughts about this one? Well, it makes sense to me. Um, they talk about rejection rates. Like there was a time maybe two to three years ago where employees had much more, they felt much more licensed to reject job offers. In fact, we remember it like almost like that housing boom. Like if you didn't get the offer letter out right away and get that sign letter, they could have gotten three other offer letters at the same time. Right. So we're just we're moving out of that zone. And it says that um job rejection rates have dropped significantly in 2025, like by 12%. So less available, less opportunity. Yet what we have are people who are disengaged and stuck moving to a new organization. They're settling for a job that maybe feels somewhat limiting, but um, hey, it's at least it's not the job I had or I have right now.
John Broer:Right.
Sara Best:Uh and I think what what this signals for leaders, John, is that engagement will require more than, hey, welcome to our company and here's your swag bag. And um, you know, people uh you need to recognize who's walking in the door. They could be um disengaged, dysregulated. You're getting people, you could be potentially hiring people who don't have a lot of gas in the tank and they're gonna need some growth opportunities, uh, clarity, they're gonna need to reconnect to the meaning of their work. So it kind of makes it harder for employers that are hiring people that are settling. Um not to mention the fact that they're probably not a good fit for the job. You know, we always talk about job fit, manager fit, team fit, and culture fit.
John Broer:Right.
Sara Best:Knowing that the first most significant element to engagement is. That a person can draw from their natural behavioral wiring every day when they do their work.
John Broer:Right. Right.
Sara Best:So this one, this one has some real challenge to it. Well, oh, no doubt. And and one of the words, when I first read the article, one of the words that that jumped out for me uh or jumped out to me for trend number five is the word desperation. And that might be too strong a word, but if people are settling and they're figuring I just have to take the, I gotta be able to pay the bills. I gotta be able to keep our roof over our head and put food on the table. I get that. I totally get that. On the other hand, from the employer's standpoint, especially for managers and supervisors, to your point, this is where talent optimization comes into play. And at the front end of it, let's make sure we are optimizing job fit. That's that's why our clients use so many of our tools to optimize job fit. Because if if you're bringing somebody in who's desperate and who's just taking it for the paycheck, that's all that's gonna do is is suppress engagement, retention, and performance. And yeah, it's wouldn't it be wonderful if you found somebody who was in that position, um, perhaps desperate and just taking whatever was available and realize, oh my gosh, I have found this company has brought me in and I am perfectly aligned to this work. Man, you got somebody who's gonna be so jacked up about that kind of work. Well, and if we're smart enough to notice where they fit, where they thrive, where they are aligned, then maybe we can do some moving around. Like heaven forbid we uh not try to refit some people based on what we notice about how they work. I think that's that's super important, John. All right, we have one more. Well, I like this one a lot. Early career pay is recovering, but opportunity isn't equal. So, I mean, for us civilians, you know, we've known for a long time that new grads coming out of school or having a hard time finding jobs and finding jobs with uh levels of pay consistent with living your life in a normal way. So um real wages for new grads will finally exceed 2020 levels in 2026. So there's been a gradual increase in those first jobs, first timers getting a job, having a living wage. The article suggests that it varies widely by city. Sure. Um, they talk about emerging markets outperforming some traditional hubs. Uh, but anyway, higher pay does not automatically equal higher engagement or development. We know that. True. But it's it's a foundational piece that I think organizations have to consider when they look at all these other things that contribute to engagement. Yeah, no doubt. And and I think for all of the of the six, not five, of the six trends that Glassdoor has has pointed out, this one most definitely reflects, especially if you look at the graphs, reflects the impact of inflation. I mean, yeah, I mean, between 21 and 23, we hit a 40 year high in inflation. And so as it recedes, you start to see that come back and that the the recovery is more in line with where it was prior to the pandemic. So I think that's really encouraging. And once again, you know, I would love nothing more. I mean, I, you know, I mean, you know, when you think about young people coming out of school and they start to save money with the maybe some of them are desiring to buy a house and start a family and all that, all that stuff that we think about, uh it seems like there, there, there's light at the end of that tunnel for our our college grads. And I mean, we've got some really, really gifted people coming into the workforce. I mean, we've seen it over the last few years. So this is this is a real positive one. I agree. I agree. If we think about the trends, the six trends that we discussed from this glass door research. I think the summary, John, uh, the biggest risk in 2026 is not AI. It's not return to office. More so it's a quiet collapse of trust driven by uncertainty without connection. Yeah. Yeah. That's a great summary. I feel like it's a song that we keep playing over and over and over again. But that's what I meant. I mean, it's like it we keep talking about this, we keep hearing the same things. It doesn't mean that we don't want to keep working at it, but man, these things are so some of these things are so within our grasp. And they are. Yeah, they just need to call us to help them.
John Broer:There you go. I agree, John. We're here. We're here. We're ready.
Sara Best:Oh my gosh, that's funny. Well, I will post a link to the Glassdoor article in the show notes. Make sure you go look at it. And at the same time, we don't mean to be cavalier about the fact that these are are easy to solve, but but really, folks, managers and supervisors, the things that are in your span of control actually are more significant than you than you know and absolutely worth pursuing to try to stave off these particular trends. You know what, John? Well, what struck me as you said that is it's emotional intelligence. These the the competency required to build connection, build trust, communicate differently, make sure you leave time for people to weigh in. That's all about EQ. Oh, yeah. It's it's unmistakable. Well, Sarah, thank you. This was great. Um, everybody keep checking in. New episodes rolling out in the new year. And uh, we just want to get you started off on the right track. So um, if anybody has any questions, don't hesitate to reach out. And we will see you next time on the Bosshole Chronicles. Thanks very much for checking out this episode of the Bosshole Chronicles. It was so good to have you here. And if you have your own bosshole story that you want to share with the Bosshole Transformation Nation, just reach out. You can email us at mystory at the bossholechronicles.com. Again, my story at the bossholechronicles.com. We'll see you next time.