Pluxee releases a global study uncovering three paradoxes shaping employee engagement in the era of inflation and AI
Paris, September 22, 2026
Pluxee, a global player in employee benefits and engagement, today publishes its second international employee engagement study, surveying 11,000 respondents across 14 countries. The study highlights three paradoxes that offer a vivid snapshot of employee engagement today:
- While work plays a less central role in employees’ lives, their connection to their company grows stronger;
- Despite persistent financial pressure, employees are prepared to leave a job that no longer interests them;
- Although artificial intelligence is poised to profoundly transform employees’ jobs, it inspires more enthusiasm than fear.
Aurélien Sonet, Chief Executive Officer of Pluxee, commented, “This second global study reveals a workforce that is far more optimistic than many might expect. In the context of economic uncertainty and pressure on purchasing power, employees are strongly connected to their companies, which they increasingly see as a source of stability in a challenging environment. The research also questions common perceptions about AI: while employees recognize its transformative potential for their jobs, most see it as an opportunity rather than a threat, expecting it to make work simpler and more interesting. As the world of work evolves rapidly and new skills become essential, the support we, as employers, provide our employees is crucial to driving their engagement.”
| Key figures from the study
Find the full research paper on the Pluxee website:
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An international study in 14 countries
Pluxee’s global employee engagement study explores how employees worldwide are experiencing work amid economic pressure and the rise of artificial intelligence. Conducted by Ipsos in May 2026 with 11,000 employees across 14 countries, the study tracks changes observed since the first edition in 2025. The countries surveyed include Belgium, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, France, Germany, Indiai, Italy, Mexico, Romania, Spain, Turkey, the UK and the USA.
The findings are analyzed by Jean-Baptiste Barféty, a public policy expert specializing in work, digital transition and the common good, and former advisor to the French Ministry of Labor, together with Antoine Solom, Senior Consultant at FOCUS, specializing in research, advisory and strategy for engaging transformations.
Three paradoxes shaping employee engagement
Despite mounting pressure on household budgets and the rapid transformation of work driven by AI, employees continue to demonstrate a surprising capacity to adapt and move forward with confidence. Contrary to many assumptions, the findings reveal a workforce that remains engaged, strongly connected to employers and broadly positive about work.
Yet beneath this resilience lie three striking paradoxes that capture the changing reality of employee engagement today.
While work is becoming less central to people’s lives, employees feel increasingly connected to their company
As reduced purchasing power and lower life satisfaction prompt employees to make bigger trade-offs at work to better focus on their personal lives, work is becoming less central to their lives. The share of employees who say work is the center of their lives has fallen from 19% to 13%, while “Measured Engagement”ii has increased from 34% to 38%, reflecting a growing tendency to engage with work more deliberately to protect boundaries, values and work-life balance.
This shift should not be mistaken for disengagement. On the contrary, employees’ connection to their organizations continues to grow: professional satisfaction remains high (above 7 in all countries), and 87% report they either ‘love’ or ‘like” their company, up four percentage points.
According to Jean-Baptiste Barféty, the workplace has become a reliable ‘refuge’ for employees, serving as a place of connection and “a shock absorber protecting them from some of the discomforts they might be experiencing because of inflation and global uncertainty”.
Despite financial pressures, employees are prepared to leave jobs they no longer find interesting
Financial difficulties are having a tangible impact on workers’ lives, with 70% citing inflation and cost-of-living as their top worry and 25% saying they ‘cannot stop thinking about it’. In most of the countries studied, more than half of employees struggle to make ends meet, sometimes running out of money by the tenth day of the month.
However, despite a challenging context, employee loyalty is increasingly conditional: the percentage of employees who want to stay with their company ‘for as long as I can’ has fallen by 5 points compared to 2025. Meanwhile, the percentage of employees who ‘intend to stay as long as my job remains interesting’ is on the rise, increasing by 6 points globally.
Interesting work, the variety of tasks and recognition are driving employee engagement. This development reinforces a trend highlighted in the first edition of the study: employees expect reciprocity from their company in exchange for their engagement. Globally, when asked what their company’s HR priorities should be in the coming months, beyond higher salaries, employees’ top priorities are well-being and working conditions (35%), recognition of their commitment and achievements (33%), and employee benefits that complement compensation (29%).
Employees also expressed a need for growth, with 25% wishing to be ‘provided with better individual support and career development opportunities’ and 21% calling for their company’s HR to put developing ‘people’s skills through more training, particularly in AI’ at the top of their agenda.
AI is transforming jobs, yet employees see more opportunity than threat
While workers across the globe recognize that AI will be a major force in transforming the world of work, they are unexpectedly optimistic about its potential: 65% welcome the AI revolution, and 40% described AI as ‘great’ and say they ‘love’ using it.
This confidence is reflected in perceptions of AI’s impact on employment: 40% of employees are confident that their jobs will not disappear as a result of AI, and 42% concede that the content of their jobs will most likely change, ‘but in a positive way’, making work ‘less routine and more interesting’.
Employees are increasingly embracing AI and adapting to its growing role in the workplace. Among regular AI users, 39% say they learn to use the technology on their own, compared with just 9% who rely on managers and 9% on colleagues. With 31% of employees identifying improving efficiency as a key challenge for their organization in the years ahead, many employees view AI as a tool to save time, simplify work and reduce complexity.
The study also highlights a clear link between employee engagement and openness to AI. Using the Engagement Spectrum introduced in Pluxee’s 2025 global study The New Rules of Engagement, researchers found that the more engaged and outwardly curious employees are, the more likely they are to embrace AI. While 64% of “All Parts Engaged” employees say they love AI and use it frequently, this falls to 39% among “Work Centrists” and 27% among “Outsiders”.
Companies now face the challenge of ensuring that AI becomes the game-changer employees expect for efficiency and well-being, so that their current enthusiasm for the technology endures.
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About Pluxee
Pluxee is a global player in Employee Benefits and Engagement that operates in 28 countries. Pluxee helps companies attract, engage, and retain talent thanks to a broad range of solutions across Meal & Food, Well-being, Lifestyle, Reward & Recognition, and Public Benefits. Powered by leading technology and more than 5,600 engaged team members, Pluxee acts as a trusted partner within a highly interconnected B2B2C ecosystem made up of more than 500,000 clients, 37 million+ consumers and 1.7 million+ merchants. Conducting business for 50 years, Pluxee is committed to creating a positive impact on local communities, supporting well-being at work for employees and protecting the planet.
For more information: www.pluxeegroup.com
Contact
Cecilia de Pierrebourg
+33 6 03 30 46 98
cecilia.depierrebourg@pluxeegroup.com
iTo ensure the comparability of results across markets, responses from India were excluded from the consolidated global analysis due to distinct response patterns observed within the dataset.
ii Pluxee’s global study published in 2025, The New Rules of Engagement was the first research paper to identify Measured Engagement, a trend in which employees engage with work deliberately to protect their boundaries, values, and work-life balance — a pragmatic response to a world of work that often expects people to overextend themselves.
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