About Spherion's Emerging Workforce® Study

1997

Launch of the Emerging Workforce® Study. The study explores the beliefs and values of each worker group and its direct impact on attraction, recruitment, and retention.

1999

Workplace relationships prove a significant factor in the overall happiness of workers. Whether an employee viewed their supervisor as a friend or not has a direct bearing on their job satisfaction, trust in their employer, loyalty, and beliefs about the quality of management in their organization.

2003

Ethics, culture, and work environment are huge for employees. Workers who suspect unethical company behavior are likely to make it known. On the flip side, a positive work environment and company culture are among the top reasons workers opt to stay with an employer.

2005

Work/life balance is in high demand. As workers struggle to balance the responsibilities of their professional life with their personal life, work/life balance programs are becoming a lead factor in employee retention.

2007

More workers are on the move in pursuit of new employment than ever before, and a growing number of them are determined to carve out their own niche in the workforce as a free agent. Worker confidence is rising and expanding the bounds of opportunity.

2009

Social media is creating a deeper level of transparency and accountability for employers. A clear corporate mission and active follow-through matters to employees. In fact, workers say it has a significant impact on their job satisfaction and loyalty to an employer.

2010

The rise of social media has resulted in major shifts on the employment front, and employers are missing the mark. Attracting, engaging, and retaining talent must be part of a formal social media strategy, yet many companies either don’t have one or underestimate its importance.

2013

Economic uncertainty has caused a surge in free-agent thinking. Workers are realizing it's up to them to create their own stability in the workforce. Moreover, workers are scrutinizing employers more closely via social media, and corporate mission, values, and reputation are shaping their views.

2014

Companies have squeezed all they can from their workforce, leaving employees burned out and disengaged. As employers look for ways to ramp up engagement, HR practices are proving to be a crucial part of the puzzle. Moreover, companies must tailor their recruitment efforts more effectively to win the best talent.

2015

Employers and employees are concerned about future workers—due to a lack of skills—and companies, due to an impending skill gap. Finding qualified talent is difficult and retaining them amid decreasing loyalty is becoming a challenge. As Millennials and Gen Z have entered the workplace, HR leaders give priority to talent pipelining and succession planning.

2016

Workers have renewed confidence in their ability to secure new employment. This power shift is changing the game for employers as they seek out more effective ways to attract, recruit, retain, and engage talent. As the workforce experiences a generational shift, employers are charged with a new set of priorities to manage effectively today and prepare for the future.

2017

Workers are on the move, causing employers to refocus their retention efforts on areas that prove meaningful to employees, from raising wages and work/life balance to training and development. STEM professionals and other specialized skill sets are in demand, posing new recruiting challenges for employers trying to fill these roles. As Boomers rapidly exit the workplace, the skills gap is widening, forcing employers to get serious about succession planning, equipping Millennials for leadership and recruiting Gen Z.

2018

From the influence of diversity and generational differences to the rise of automation and the new agile workforce, employers must keep pace with changing worker beliefs and expectations to stay competitive. With employer brand, company mission, and HR practices shaping worker perceptions, training, development, and succession planning are high priorities.

2019

With the incredibly tight labor market, employers need to be more aligned with what employees want and need and what drives them. They want to work for a company that shares their passions and advocates for causes they care about. It’s even more important for employers to evolve their approaches to recruiting and engaging employees so they can attract the right talent and win in the marketplace. Dissatisfaction with work/life balance and compensation are chief drivers of turnover.

2025

As we look toward 2030 and beyond, the Emerging Workforce® study is positioned to become the definitive intelligence platform for navigating an increasingly complex talent landscape. With the US staffing industry valued at nearly $200 billion in 2025 and experiencing unprecedented transformation, our research will expand to address critical emerging challenges.

The study's future iterations will incorporate advanced AI-driven analytics to predict workforce trends in real-time, moving beyond traditional survey methodologies to include continuous sentiment monitoring and predictive modeling. As cutting-edge technologies like AI and blockchain revolutionize recruitment, our research will track how these innovations impact employee expectations and employer strategies.

By 2030, we envision Emerging Workforce® as a comprehensive ecosystem providing quarterly insights, predictive workforce analytics, and customizable benchmarking tools that enable organizations to stay ahead of talent market shifts and build resilient, future-ready workforces.

What is Spherion's Emerging Workforce® Study? A comprehensive research initiative 25+ years in the making

Understand your workforce

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