“My boss doesn’t understand me” seems to be a common feeling among millions of employees. A new study from The Predictive Index warns that the real challenge in workplaces is not burnout, but rather the disconnection between leaders and employees. This “perception gap” negatively affects talent retention, performance, and innovation. And Gen Z is the most affected.
According to the 2025 Workplace Perception Gap Survey, conducted by Dynata and promoted by the HR firm The Predictive Index (PI), 46% of workers in the United States believe their bosses understand “little or nothing” about their contributions. This disconnect threatens to become an even greater obstacle than the much-discussed burnout.
“When employees don’t feel accurately seen or understood, it creates a perception gap that directly impacts retention, performance, and innovation. This isn’t just about hurt feelings — it has negative consequences for the business,” says Matt Poepsel, Vice President at PI and known as the “Godfather of Talent Optimization.”
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How does the gap between bosses and employees manifest?
The study results show several data points about how employees perceive leadership in their companies:
- 44% have been passed over for raises, promotions, or projects due to misunderstandings about their skills or work style.
- 48% feel consistently undervalued by leadership.
- 43% receive feedback that doesn’t align with their self-perception.
- 1 in 5 workers believe they are “more capable than they appear.”
These numbers reflect an environment where key decisions —such as promotions or strategic assignments— are based on mistaken perceptions rather than objective evaluations.
Why is Gen Z the most affected?
Gen Z —young people born from the mid-90s onward— takes the hardest hit. The study reveals:
- 54% of Gen Z employees believe the feedback they receive is inaccurate or misguided.
- 62% have felt overlooked due to misperceptions, a figure 18 percentage points higher than the overall workforce average.
This situation endangers the retention of young talent, just as projections show that Gen Z will make up 30% of the workforce by 2030.
Additionally, the report notes that the number of Gen Z users registering on job boards rose by 42% in just one year, which may signal growing silent dissatisfaction.
What role do HR teams play?
The study suggests that the key to closing the perception gap between employees and managers isn’t about working harder, but working more consciously. To that end, it proposes three urgent actions for HR teams:
1. Train leaders to identify and reduce bias
“Traditional leadership approaches are failing to recognize the diverse behavioral drives and work styles that make teams successful,” warns Poepsel.
Training on unconscious biases —such as the “Horns effect” (judging someone based on a single bad experience) or “Affinity Bias” (favoring those who are similar to oneself)— is essential for fairer evaluations.
2. Establish more frequent and meaningful review cycles
45% of employees surveyed want more frequent and helpful feedback. Annual reviews or casual conversations aren’t enough. Regular, development-focused performance discussions are needed.
3. Use behavioral data throughout the entire talent cycle
80% of Gen Z believe that behavioral assessments can improve team understanding and enhance performance. These tools help uncover each person’s true motivations and contribute to building more inclusive and productive workplace cultures.
What happens when employees don’t feel recognized?
The report’s central phrase sums it up: “Perception is reality.” If an employee feels their effort isn’t acknowledged —even if their manager thinks otherwise— that feeling will have tangible consequences:
- Loss of motivation.
- Talent turnover.
- Limited performance.
This is especially critical in hybrid or remote environments, where it’s harder to “see” the work being done outside traditional channels. “Don’t confuse quiet communication with a lack of collaboration,” the report warns.
How can companies prevent employees from burning out emotionally?
Beyond focusing solely on reducing burnout, a new approach proposes reducing emotional and professional disconnection between leaders and their teams.
Investing in tools that reveal objective data on behaviors and work styles not only improves communication, but also fosters more human, equitable, and productive organizational cultures.
When an employee feels that their boss truly sees them, values them, and supports them, they don’t just perform better… they stay. And for Gen Z, that can make all the difference.
