Home topics news via pexels HR News HR Only one in five Australians is actively job hunting, and that is bad news for SMEs too Yajush Gupta February 26, 2026 Just one in five Aussie employees is actively job hunting right now. But Gartner research shows SMEs can’t afford to assume loyalty. What’s happening: Gartner’s Global Talent Monitor survey, covering October to December 2025, shows Australian employee confidence in job availability has fallen to its lowest point in more than three years. Why this matters: For SMEs without dedicated HR teams or large recruitment budgets, losing a key person or managing a disengaged one carries a cost that can ripple through the entire operation. On the surface, a workforce that isn’t moving sounds like good news for employers. But Gartner’s latest data tells a more complicated story, and for SME owners, the nuance matters. Gartner’s Global Talent Monitor survey, drawn from responses collected between October and December 2025, shows that confidence in job availability among Australian employees has fallen to 55.7, the lowest level recorded since at least 2022. Only 19.4 per cent of employees reported actively looking for new roles during that period. The share planning to stay in their current position climbed to 38.1 per cent, up from a three-year low of 32.9 per cent recorded at the start of 2025. Neal Woolrich, Director of Advisory in the Gartner HR practice, said the picture is not one of contentment. “With fewer opportunities and heightened competition for open roles,