Your team might be staying put, but are they actually content? Hays Salary Guide reveals a widening gap in how different workers are experiencing the current work environment
If your team seems settled and turnover is low, it is tempting to assume things are fine. New research from Hays suggests that assumption could be costly.
The Hays Salary Guide FY26/27, drawing on insights from more than 7,000 hiring managers and professionals across Australia and New Zealand, paints a picture of a workforce that is staying put not because it is content, but because it is cautious. The conditions for a retention problem are building underneath numbers that look stable on the surface.
Matthew Dickason, CEO of Hays APAC, is direct about what the data shows. “Employers shouldn’t confuse low mobility with low dissatisfaction. Only 1 in 5 changed jobs last year, yet 1 in 3 say there’s no clear promotion structure, and pay growth is only just tracking inflation. The conditions for a retention problem are building underneath stable turnover numbers,” he says. “Workers are staying put out of caution, not contentment.”
Secure but not satisfied
The headline finding from the Hays research captures the tension clearly. Two thirds of workers, 66%, feel quite or very confident in their job security over the next 12 months. That confidence is not translating into satisfaction. Only 53% feel satisfied or very satisfied in their roles, and just 42% are satisfied or very satisfied with their salary. Half of all workers feel underpaid, even among those who received a pay rise in the past year.
Job mobility remains low as a result. Only 20% of professionals changed employers in the past 12 months, and 38% are planning no change to their career path in the next year. But Dickason’s reading of that stability is cautious. When people stay because the economic environment makes moving feel risky rather than because they genuinely want to stay, the underlying dissatisfaction does not disappear. It accumulates.
Where the pay pressure sits
Average salary increases across the workforce sit at approximately 4%, in line with current inflation levels. The most common drivers of those increases were cost-of-living pressures at 32% and company-wide adjustments at 25%, rather than promotions at 18% or new jobs at 11%. In other words, most workers who received a pay rise got it because costs went up, not because their contribution was recognised. That distinction matters for how the pay rise is experienced.
The impact of limited wage growth is not evenly distributed. Three in five workers earning less than $79,000, 62%, reported little to no meaningful salary growth in the past year. For workers earning above $80,000 that figure drops to 36%. The gap reflects a workforce where lower-paid workers are falling further behind in real terms even as the headline average looks reasonable.
Looking ahead, employers anticipate average pay rate changes of 3.8% over the next 12 months, slightly below last year’s 3.9%. With inflation expected to remain elevated, the gap between what workers need from their pay and what they are receiving is unlikely to close on salary alone. Legal, consulting, strategy, accounting, and finance sectors expect above-average increases. Retail, hospitality, tourism, education, and the public sector are the most pessimistic about salary growth, which has direct implications for SME owners in those categories.
Why people stay and why they leave
The Hays research identifies the most common reasons workers stay in their current roles as relationships with colleagues and managers at 42%, stable income and benefits at 42%, and job security at 34%. The leading reasons for leaving are salary and benefits at 43%, lack of future opportunities at 36%, and low pay at 30%.
The progression pathway finding is one of the most practically actionable for small business owners. Workers without defined promotion pathways report lower satisfaction at 42% and are more likely to be actively job hunting at 36%. Among those considering leaving, lack of future opportunities was cited by 36% and unclear promotion pathways by 33%. For a small business that cannot always match the salary of a larger competitor, a clear and credible progression pathway is one of the most powerful retention tools available.
Flexible working has become table stakes rather than a differentiator. While 70% of workers say flexible working is very or extremely important, only 30% cite it as a reason to stay and just 16% as a reason to leave. Two thirds of employers have already incorporated flexibility and 51% of professionals report having it. The businesses that offer it are not gaining a competitive advantage any more. The ones that do not are losing one.
Gender differences in the data are also worth noting for SME owners thinking about their team composition. Women are nearly twice as likely as men to change roles due to lack of challenge, at 18% compared to 10%, while men are more likely to move for higher pay, with 26% citing a better offer compared to 8% of women. Understanding what is driving dissatisfaction for different members of your team matters for what you do about it.
What employers should do now
Dickason’s practical guidance for employers is focused on two things: making progression tangible and having the conversations that most managers avoid. “Where pay can’t do all the work, progression has to,” he says. “Yet many organisations still treat career pathways as an internal HR mechanism, rather than something clearly defined and visible to their people. It remains one of the most underutilised levers.” His advice is to clarify what advancement looks like in concrete terms, equip managers to have regular career conversations, and strengthen the broader benefits and workplace relationships that keep people engaged.
For small business owners, the timing of this research is relevant. The new financial year starts on 1 July with Payday Super landing at the same time. If you have not had a direct conversation with key team members about their salary, their progression, and their satisfaction in the last six months, the start of a new financial year is a natural moment to do that. The Hays data suggests that the employees most at risk of leaving are not necessarily the ones making noise. They are the ones quietly waiting to see if things get better before deciding they will not.
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