What hourly workers want as retention risks rise

Employers struggling to retain hourly workers may need to rethink their approach, as new research showed reliability, not just pay, is the key to keeping talent in a cooling job market.

Teambridge’s 2025 report, The Retention Puzzle: What Today’s Workers Want and What Drives Them Away, found that only 29 per cent of hourly workers are likely to stay with their current employer over the next year. While 68 per cent cite pay as a top factor when choosing where to work, flexibility and predictable scheduling rank nearly as high.

Half of respondents said flexible hours, reliable shift availability and good communication are make-or-break factors in deciding where to work, outweighing promotion opportunities, which only 31 per cent consider critical.

“Making the roles of essential workers reliable isn’t just a nice-to-have, it’s also critical,” said Tito Goldstein, Teambridge’s co-founder and co-CEO, adding that many of these roles can’t be replaced by AI.

The survey found widespread support gaps. More than 85 per cent of workers needed help outside business hours for tasks like swapping shifts but couldn’t get it. Communication breakdowns are common, with 39 per cent missing shifts or deadlines because of poor communication, a figure that jumps to 50 per cent among workers most likely to leave. Tech tools also matter: 22 per cent have quit because of the systems they were asked to use, and another nine per cent have considered it.

Faster pay emerged as a major retention driver. Two-thirds (68 per cent) of workers say they are more likely to stay if they can access wages as they earn them, rather than waiting for a fixed payday. Among retention-risk workers, that number rises to 78 per cent.

“Reliability has to be the new employer or agency value proposition,” said Arjun Vora, Teambridge’s other co-founder and co-CEO. “When workers can count on their schedules, their pay and their ability to reach someone for help, they stay. The good news is, all of this is in the control of employers and agencies.”

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