The 2025 Business Generosity Report by goBeyondProfit and Georgia CEO reveals a critical misalignment that directly impacts productivity and consistently influences employee decisions to stay or leave. While employees may not be leaving now, our report reveals key employees are quietly looking for companies that offer what they value.
In today’s economic uncertainty, this report gives leaders strategic insights to build loyalty and engagement today, so when the hiring market inevitably rebounds, your company is the destination top talent seeks—not the workplace they leave behind.
The report, based on a survey of 241 Georgia business executives and 1,000 employed adults, highlights a profound misalignment in how generosity is defined. While 100% of executives are committed to generosity, their investments miss the mark on what drives loyalty and engagement.
The findings provide actionable insights for leaders to optimize their generosity investments and build lasting employee loyalty.
Key Findings:
- The Loyalty Paradox: For business leaders trying to retain key employees, the data tells us that 37% are quietly looking for other options, including the 25% who report they “absolutely love their job.”
- Generosity’s Soaring Importance: Employee expectations for generosity have skyrocketed – 97% now consider it fundamentally important in an employer. Executives cite increased employee satisfaction (68%) and financial gains (49%) as major benefits.
- Real Retention Consequences: 66% of employees have made job decisions based on a company’s generosity. Critically, 1-in-4 left jobs, and 1-in-5 rejected offers, due to a perceived lack of generosity. These aren’t one-time decisions. People make generosity-based career moves repeatedly.
- Mounting Skepticism + Political Disruption: 59% of employed adults question whether business is a force for good. 56% of executives and 60% of employees (up from 45% in 2024) predict external politics will cause major disruption to company policies and workplace relationships. The combination of skepticism and political disruption creates an atmosphere ripe for employees to languish until they can find something new.
- A Costly Misalignment: Executives and employees define generosity differently. 83% of employees don’t define business generosity as charitable outreach, yet executives consistently prioritize this as their top focus.
- Significant Missed Opportunities: Over half (52%) of employees rate their company’s employee care as average or failing due to large gaps between what is offered and what employees value. This includes childcare (45-point gap), upskilling/retraining (41-point gap), and maternal health support (41-point gap).
The report identifies four strategic pillars of modern generosity that employees prioritize: exceptional employee care, transparent company culture, ethical operations, and meaningful community engagement – in that order.
The data shows that talent gravitates to businesses that get generosity right and companies deemed “ungenerous” risk losing key employees and paying more for their replacements. Getting generosity “right” may be the most reliable investment a business can make in 2025. This year’s Business Generosity Report offers executives a clear road map to success.
The 2025 report is based on concurrent surveys that were conducted between May 6 – May 31. To see the full methodology, click here.
goBeyondProfit is a statewide alliance of more than 2,100 business leaders committed to corporate generosity and improving people’s lives.
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