Pluxee release a global study uncovering three paradoxes shaping employee engagement in the era of inflation and AI

The new research reveals UK employees are setting firmer boundaries, becoming more selective about loyalty and embracing AI despite economic uncertainty

• 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’.
• The share of employees who say work is the centre of their lives has fallen from 19% to 13%, while “Measured Engagement” has increased from 34% to 38%,
• Workers are unexpectedly optimistic about AI potential: 65% welcome the AI revolution, and 40% described AI as ‘great’ and say they ‘love’ using it

Milton Keynes, UK, 10th November 2026: Pluxee, a global player in employee benefits and engagement, has published 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.

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.

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.

For British workers, those financial pressures are particularly acute, with 74% worried about inflation and its impact on their purchasing power, including 21% who say they cannot stop thinking about it. More than half (55%) report having either no money left after the tenth of the month or only just enough to live on, up nine percentage points from 2025.

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.

That shift towards more conditional loyalty is clear among UK employees.

Almost four in ten (39%) say they will stay only while their job remains interesting, up six percentage points compared with last year. Meanwhile, the proportion planning to stay for as long as they can has fallen eight points to 42%. 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%).

UK employees share similar priorities, with wellbeing and working conditions topping the list of HR requests at 38%, followed by recognition at 33% and better communication and involvement in decisions at 31%.

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.

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 centre of their lives has fallen from 19% to 13%, while “Measured Engagement” has increased from 34% to 38%, reflecting a growing tendency to engage with work more deliberately to protect boundaries, values and work-life balance.

British employees are also drawing firmer boundaries around the role work plays in their lives.

Nearly half (44%) now say their job is important but less important than the rest of their life, up 12 percentage points since 2025. A further 33% say they meet their manager’s expectations but set limits when demands go too far, up five points.

This shift should not be mistaken for disengagement. On the contrary, employees’ connection to their organisations 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.

AI is transforming jobs, yet employees see more opportunity than threat

While workers across the globe recognise 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.

British workers are embracing the technology too.

A third (34%) say they love AI and believe it makes life simpler, while a further 19% find it attractive and are using it more. 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’.

Concerns about AI replacing jobs also remain relatively limited among British workers.

Some 44% see no risk of their job disappearing because of AI, while 38% expect the technology to make their role less routine and more interesting. Just 4% believe their job is threatened in the short term. 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 organisation 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.

Aurélien Sonet, Chief Executive Officer of Pluxee, said, “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 recognise 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.”

Download the full Pluxee Work: a refuge in turbulent times? Study here: https://www.pluxee.uk/work-a-refuge-in-turbulent-times/

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, India, Italy, Mexico, Romania, Spain, Turkey, the UK and the USA. The findings are analysed by Jean-Baptiste Barféty, a public policy expert specialising 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, specialising in research, advisory and strategy for engaging transformations.