In the ever-evolving landscape of workplace dynamics, one truth remains constant: the power relationship between employers and employees is fundamentally cyclical. As business leaders continue to navigate the complexities of 2025’s business environment, this pattern has never been more evident—or more critical to understand.
In a May 11 Wall Street Journal article, the authors opined about the shift in workplace attitudes. CEOs and corporate leadership are no longer coddling their employees but treating them, for lack of a better term, like they’re wholly expendable parts. This theory represents a sharp shift in workplace dynamics and I wanted to share some thoughts on where we have been and where we are going as business leaders.
The COVID Workplace Effect
The pandemic era created a dramatic employee-centric dynamic. Prompted by labor shortages and constant resignations, workers gained unprecedented leverage. The term “quiet quitting” became commonplace for a workforce that reportedly would only “work to the rule” and no more. Companies desperate to maintain their operational needs amid a fickle workforce swung the pendulum to making sure their employees were overly incentivized to stay put, offering perks such as fully remote work, three to four-day workweeks, big signing bonuses, and flexible schedules that made allowances for “personal time” and the needs of employee pets.
The benefit for employees was that for the first time in many of their careers, they could experience the terminally elusive premise of “work-life balance.”
Oh, How the Pendulum has Swung
Jump to 2025, when employers and employees are dealing with economic uncertainty and persistently high interest rates and the balance of power has shifted again. Companies, many possessing what can only be described as pent-up hostility from the employee-centered era, are back to aggressively flexing their hierarchical muscles. In other words, pandemic-era policies have made CEOs channel their inner Howard Beale from Network and they are mad as hell and not going to take it anymore. Return-to-office mandates have hardened. Perks are disappearing. Performance metrics are tightening.
As highlighted in the Wall Street Journal article, some corporate leaders embrace this shift with sometimes troubling vindictiveness, viewing it as an opportunity to reassert dominance rather than reestablish balance.
The Generational Differences of Millennial and Z Employee Expectations
Complicating this new workplace dynamic is the ever-present clash between traditional management philosophies and the workplace expectations of younger generations. Over the past few years, many executives have expressed frustration with what they view as Millennial and Gen Z “entitlement,” creating another barrier to productive workplace relationships.
This generational friction fuels the fire of employer angst, making it easier to justify harsh policies as “necessary corrections” rather than what they often truly are: emotional reactions to a temporary loss of control.
Horrible Bosses Should be Left to the Movies
Visionary business leaders now recognize a fundamental truth: vindictive management is bad for business. Companies that make decisions based on reclaiming power rather than promoting productivity end up undermining their own success.
A sustainable, innovative corporate culture isn’t built on the foundations of retribution or control. Instead, it emerges from an alignment with a company’s core values and a mutual respect between employers and employees. The most successful organizations maintain these principles regardless of where the power pendulum happens to be swinging.
Finding Middle Ground
The most forward-thinking companies in 2025 are resisting the urge to overcorrect. Instead, they’re attempting to seek a balanced approach that acknowledges the economic realities swirling around us, while preserving those valuable lessons learned from the employee-centered era, such as:
- Values-based leadership: Making decisions that align with stated corporate values rather than market-driven opportunities for control
- Transparency: Communicating honestly about business needs without manufactured urgency
- Mutual respect: Recognizing that productivity stems from engagement, not compliance
- Adaptability: Creating flexible systems that can weather power shifts without cultural collapse
Where We Go from Here
As we traverse the present, both employers and employees would be wise to remember the cyclical nature of workplace power dynamics. Based on history, we can expect that today’s power imbalance will eventually shift again.
Organizations that use their current advantage to build sustainable cultures rather than settle scores will be better positioned when that inevitable swing occurs. Building respect takes more work than demanding it, but its benefits extend beyond any single economic cycle.
The most successful companies of tomorrow won’t be those that maximized control during this employer-favorable market, but those that learned from the past few years and maintained their cultural integrity regardless of where the pendulum happened to rest. In the workplace, as in most aspects of business, playing the long game often remains the most profitable strategy of all.