Competitive salary and additional benefits are named among the most important employer selection criteria by 56% of respondents, work-life balance by 55%, and job stability by 50%. The difference between the first two criteria has become almost symbolic.
This sends an important message to employers: salary remains a key factor in deciding on a job, but it is no longer enough alone to attract and retain an employee. People value the overall job offer – how financially fair the job will be, how it will affect their daily life, health, whether it will provide security, and where it can lead after several years.
Stability becomes an important basis for a job offer
Job stability ranks among the top three most important qualities of an ideal employer and remains significant for all employee groups. Its importance especially grows with age: 44% of Generation Z representatives emphasize stability, 51% of millennials, 57% of Generation X, and 62% of baby boomers. And this is quite understandable: often with age people start families, have more financial commitments, and face aging, which can lead to their desire to find a stable job.
It is important to understand that stability today is not just a promise that the employee will not be fired. For the employee, stability is a broader feeling: whether the company clearly communicates its direction, whether management decisions are consistent, whether the person receives enough information during changes, whether they know what is expected of them and what future they can have in the organization. Even a financially strong company can seem unstable if there is uncertainty inside, decisions are constantly changed, and employees learn about them last because internal communication is not transparent.
The study also shows the first signs of possible stabilization of labor market mobility. Although the proportion of people who changed jobs remained similar to previous years, the number planning to do so has decreased for the second consecutive year. In the first half of 2026, 24% of the world’s employees planned to change jobs.
However, a lower desire to change jobs does not necessarily mean greater satisfaction with the current job. Some people may stay in the organization because leaving seems too risky in the current economic environment.
Therefore, it would be dangerous for employers to consider employees staying at the company as loyalty. A person may not change jobs but be emotionally detached, less likely to recommend the organization, and wait for a safer moment to leave. Thus, today it is important to measure not only employee turnover but also their trust in the organization, willingness to build a future there, and readiness to recommend it to others.
A pleasant work environment is not a luxury but a necessity
According to the study, a pleasant work environment is named the most important quality of an ideal employer in Europe. However, when asked to choose and rank, employees still prioritize salary, work-life balance, and stability.
This does not mean that organizational culture has become less important. On the contrary – a respectful environment and equal opportunities for employees already seem like a self-evident standard.
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Although a pleasant work environment less often becomes a reason to choose an employer, a poor environment very quickly becomes a reason to leave. This is the so-called hygiene factor: as long as it is ensured, a person may not even notice it, but as soon as disrespectful management, conflicts, or a sense of injustice appear, their impact becomes disproportionately large. Therefore, employers should not just communicate that the team is friendly. They need to show how decisions are actually made in the organization, how conflicts are resolved, and how difficult situations are handled.
This argument is reinforced by the reasons employees give for leaving. After low salary, poor work and lack of balance, and limited career opportunities, negative work environment and poor relationships with managers follow.
Generation Z wants both balance and competitive pay
The study also corrects one of the most common beliefs about the youngest employees. For Generation Z, work-life balance is indeed the most important benefit offered by an ideal employer. However, when it comes to making a concrete decision and choosing between different offer elements, salary becomes the most important criterion for this generation as well.
Therefore, trying to offer Generation Z an interesting culture, office fruits, or a meaningful mission instead of competitive pay is likely to be perceived as a mismatch between the employer’s words and the real offer.
Generation Z remains the most mobile labor market group: 30% of its representatives plan to change jobs, and in the last six months of 2025, 24% changed employers. Therefore, for the youngest talents, employers must not only clearly present growth opportunities but also show how they are practically implemented.
Employer communication must start from real employee experience
The study reveals a sharp contrast between what people expect most and how they evaluate current employers. Salary, career opportunities, and work-life balance are among the most important factors for choosing and leaving, but employees rate them worse than many other organizational qualities.
This is another reminder that employer identity is not a communication campaign. If an organization loudly talks about growth but employees do not see internal career opportunities, or promises flexibility while managers actually expect constant availability, “correct” communication will not only fail to help – it will highlight the contrast even more. A strong employer identity starts not with a slogan but with a clear definition of what the employer’s values are, what promises it can fulfill, and what is better not to promise.
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