The 6 employer brand trends of 2026

February – the month of love, slightly longer days, and a little less misery. We’ve still got the whole year ahead of us. But unlike January, the months ahead start to be seen in a more forgiving light, rather than through a lens of strict regimes. The year begins to brim with possibilities, rather than crumpling under the threat of wasted potential. And that’s why February is the perfect time to think seriously about your employer brand.

Now that the dust has settled, one thing feels especially clear: these are the 6 employer brand trends that will define 2026. By using these trends as a guide, you’ll be well-equipped to steer your employer brand towards better talent attraction, retention and engagement.

Yes, we know… every year, every trend report claims there’s about to be lots of change. But the truth is the truth. And in 2026, we need to embrace the fact that if stability ever existed, it’s fast-becoming a relic. Only the most agile companies thrive today. Only the companies that are able to surf each new wave at a moment's notice, without falling behind or being plunged beneath the surface.

And one specific wave that will hit you in 2026 is a surge in the number of people moving jobs. Through Wisdom, we surveyed some of the UK’s general working population, finding that 37.3% of them were planning to change jobs this year. 

This shows the importance of a strong employer brand this year; in a market where movement is becoming increasingly normalised, your employer brand is one of the biggest forces keeping people engaged. Conduct anonymous pulse surveys to track the health of your culture, to identify reasons why people may be considering leaving, and to inform how you evolve. These don’t have to be hefty, exhaustive questionnaires - a quick check-in will go a long way.

Remember, too, that change often brings opportunity. If more employees are looking for new jobs, this means more will be looking at you. Communicating your offering as clearly as possible, using social media to engage wider audiences, and ensuring your employer brand is consistently reflected across every touchpoint, will help you to capitalise on this opportunity.

What motivates talent to join a company? It’s a central question for any employer brand. And, when it comes to Gen Z audiences, an increasingly difficult one to answer. Do they prioritise a job that’s fulfilling, or financially rewarding, or flexible? The answer is yes. Frustratingly, it’s often all of the above. 

For some Gen Z talent, purpose still leads the way. In fact, 86% say having a sense of purpose at work is key to their happiness, while 70% prioritise working for organisations with strong ethical stances, even if it means a lower salary. But for others, it’s all about that base salary. This year, it has topped the list of concerns for Gen Z and Millennials for the fourth year in a row -  driven in part by ongoing economic instability.

And then there’s a growing third category: the young people who simply do not care anymore.  Disheartened by the difficulty of breaking into an increasingly competitive market, a career  becomes just a job - and many will take whichever one they can get. This is reflected in the fact that only 49% of Gen Z say their job is important to their identity, compared to 62% of Millennials. For this group, time matters most - the less time they spend at work, the better. 

So what do these overlapping, and often conflicting, motivations mean for employers? Well, the positive is that the motivations are still there. They’re just increasingly fragmented. Which means your EVP needs to reflect that complexity. Don’t let just one story take the limelight. Like any good investor in any time of uncertainty, diversify your portfolio. Cast the net wider while still being specific. Articulate what’s compelling about your purpose. What’s competitive about your pay. And what your work life balance really looks like. In a fragmented market, the strongest employer brands will be the ones that paint the full picture.

We’ve looked at what motivates talent in 2026 - but how do they act on that motivation? With the growing integration of AI into day-to-day practices, it’s important to consider how this will impact the job-searching process. 

GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation) is about shaping content so AI tools can understand it properly and use it when generating answers. Increasingly, instead of typing questions into search engines, candidates are directly asking AI job-related questions, such as: “Which companies offer hybrid working?” or “Who are the best employers for career flexibility?” AI is fast-becoming the new gateway to your employer brand, showing candidates whatever information is most structured, consistent and credible.

The scale of this shift is already hard to ignore. 38% of jobseekers under 30 now rely on generative AI to research potential employers before applying, while visits from AI tools to major employer brand websites have surged by 1,300% in the last six months.

For employers, the implication is clear. In 2026, employer branding needs to be approached in much the same way SEO once was - just adapted for AI. That means making your employee offering and culture easy for AI to interpret, ensuring it’s consistent and clear across platforms such as Glassdoor, LinkedIn and your careers site.

Beyond GEO, AI will have another significant impact on recruitment in 2026: altering what employers value most in candidates. As AI absorbs technical, repetitive and analytical tasks, human differentiators are skyrocketing in value: empathy, creativity, judgement and leadership potential.

96% of professionals agree soft skills are equal or superior to technical skills, while 89% of employers viewed soft skills as more vital than five years prior. The evidence is clear: the future of employment hinges on humanity. Long gone are the days of Henry Ford and factories filled with human cogs.

For employers, this will fundamentally change talent assessment and attraction. Job descriptions, assessment processes and EVP messaging will need to evolve, placing greater emphasis on which soft skills are valued and why. Messaging will need to sound unmistakably human and outline a need which is unmistakably human. Talk about career growth, ways of working, and relationships between teams rather than simply listing technical requirements. Ultimately, the strongest employer brands in 2026 will stand out by showing how people are trusted, supported and empowered to do what AI cannot.

Even when employers are clear about what they’re looking for, it’s often far less clear to candidates how they’re supposed to get there. For many, there are rungs missing on the career ladder. This is especially the case for early talent, who often find that the very first rung is nowhere to be seen. 

Graduate roles are becoming disproportionately competitive. In the past year alone, the number of roles advertised for recent graduates in the UK has fallen by 33%, while 1.2 million applications were submitted for just 17,000 graduate vacancies. Two years on from graduating, 6% of the class of 2023 remain unemployed. This is compounded by falling headcounts and a rise in companies defaulting to school-leaver pipelines. Many younger candidates are therefore stuck beneath the ladder, with no way up.

Once you are in through the door, you’re likely to find more rungs missing ahead. Promotion rates have fallen sharply since 2022 – from 14.5% to 10.3%. This is because organisations are contending with hiring freezes, flatter structures and more risk-averse leadership. The cost-of-living crisis has only intensified this, leaving many employees stuck on the same rung for longer, uncertain about what comes next. 

In 2026, it won’t be enough to talk vaguely about “growth” or “opportunity”. Both early talent and more experienced employees are looking for reassurance that progression is possible, alongside clarity on how it actually happens. That means being transparent about development pathways, lateral moves, reskilling opportunities and what progression realistically looks like

Quiet. Loud. Naked. Soft. You may be staring at these four words and wondering, with a sense of bewilderment, what the connection could possibly be. They all refer to different ways of quitting a job and, sadly, they’re all becoming increasingly relevant today. In 2026, it’s important to be aware of how all of these may impact you as an employer.

Soft quitting and quiet quitting are both forms of doing the bare minimum at work, with the former being a more subconscious detachment and the latter representing a more intentional disengagement. Loud quitting is public and usually fuelled by frustration and a sense of injustice, while naked quitting is simply walking away with no alternative job lined up. 

What links them isn’t laziness, it’s a growing disconnect between what people want from work and what they’re getting. This is especially visible among Gen Z, with 58% of them describing their current role as a “situationship” - something short-term they don’t intend to stay in.

In 2026, with more people looking to move jobs, methods of quitting should be front of mind for employers. Importantly, quitting shouldn’t be seen purely as a retention failure, but as a signal. Strong employer brands will focus on clarity, progression, flexibility and trust - giving people clear reasons to stay, rather than simply reasons not to leave.

Taken together, these trends show that employer branding in 2026 is less about selling a promise and more about reflecting reality. In a constantly shifting environment of evolving values, crumbling career ladders, and morphing motivations, the strongest employer brands will be the most trustworthy ones. The ones that offer clarity and show stability. The ones that adapt to change and are transparent about the ways they’ve evolved. For employer brands, being human is no longer a nice-to-have, but a necessity when it comes to attraction, retention and engagement.