What happened
Only 22 per cent of workers worldwide strongly agree their job is safe from elimination, as reported by Talent Canada. The figure comes from ADP Research's Today at Work 2026, Issue 1, built on its Global Workforce Survey of more than 39,000 working adults in 36 markets, Canada included. Responses were collected in July and August 2025.
Confidence rises with seniority. It sits at 18 per cent for individual contributors and 21 per cent for frontline managers, then climbs to 23 per cent for middle managers, 31 per cent for upper managers and 35 per cent for the C-suite.
The gap shows up in behaviour. Workers who feel safe are six times more likely to be fully engaged and two times more likely to have no plans to leave. Only 19 per cent of workers reported full engagement in 2025, unchanged from the year before. Workers who say their employer invests in them were fully engaged 53 per cent of the time, against 12 per cent for those who do not.
Age matters too. Only 12 per cent of workers aged 55 and over say their employer invests in the skills they need, compared with 21 per cent of workers under 40. Yet workers 55 and over are the least likely to be planning to quit. Frequent AI users also felt more secure in their jobs.
Why it matters if you are hiring
Insecure staff are job seekers in waiting. The survey links fear of elimination to lower engagement, more stress and more time spent looking elsewhere. If your frontline and individual contributor roles feel unsure about their future, your turnover risk is higher than your exit interviews suggest, even in a market with low unemployment.
It also changes how you recruit. Candidates are weighing security and employer investment in skills, not only pay. Roles that mention AI tools, training and a clear path will read as safer to the people you want to hire.
Do not overlook experienced workers. Employees 55 and over are the least likely to leave and just as likely to find meaning in their work, yet they get the least skills investment. For hard-to-fill operations, finance and plant roles, that is a retention and hiring opportunity.
One thing to do this week
Pick your three highest-turnover roles and write one paragraph for each on how the role will change over the next two years, including where AI fits. Share it with the managers of those teams and have them walk their people through it in the next one-on-one.
Traverse Staffing places operations, contract, finance and other professionals across Canada and the US, and we help employers describe roles clearly enough to attract and keep people who want to stay.