Financial wellness among Australian employees dropped to its lowest point in three years due to global economic uncertainty and stagnant wages, according to Gartner, Inc.
Gartner’s latest Global Talent Monitor survey data, collected between January and March 2025, highlighted that compensation is top of mind for Australian employees, featuring in the top three reasons employees either stay at or leave their company. The prospect of increased remuneration from changing employers reached 8.3% – the highest recorded in three years.
“Current financial instability is placing significant pressure on Australian employees, yet they’re caught in a ‘stay or go’ paralysis based on achieving anticipated compensation gains,” said Neal Woolrich, Director, Advisory in the Gartner HR practice. “This can create an unproductive and sometimes toxic environment, making it critical for organisations to focus on tackling potential workforce performance issues.”
According to the Gartner survey, the intent of Australian employees to stay with their current employer has dropped to the lowest point in three years, declining from 45.1% in 2Q22 to 32.9% in 1Q25. This is despite confidence in job availability remaining stagnant at 57.5%.
“When pay is constrained and organisations have limitations on what they can do to improve this, employees start focusing their attention on what else is going on in the workplace, such as the reputation of senior leadership, ethical culture and workplace integrity,” said Woolrich. “This has a major influence on their decision on whether to stay or start looking for a new job elsewhere.”
Employees Seeking Quality Leadership
Gartner’s survey found the reputation of senior leadership moved up four places to enter the top 10 reasons employees gave for leaving their organisation in 1Q25, highlighting the need for leaders to build trust and credibility within the workplace.
“A respected leader boosts morale and helps foster a culture of motivation and loyalty,” said Woolrich. “During a time of great uncertainty, organisations that focus on providing this to their workforce are more likely to create an environment that is fair, with engaged and higher performing employees.”
Woolrich added: “Many organisations are implementing or considering return-to-office mandates as a way to drive collaboration, productivity and a sense of connectedness. But what matters is not where work gets done, but how work gets done. The most critical ingredient is a collaborative team culture.”
In addition, job interest alignment entered the top 10 drivers of attraction for the first time in 12 months, as employees focus on roles that match their personal beliefs. This is also reflected in a greater focus placed on working for an organisation with ethical leadership and workplace integrity, with ethics jumping three places to rank 10th (see Table 1).
Top 10 Drivers of Employee Attraction and Attrition, Australia, 1Q25
| Drivers of Attraction (change in rank) | Drivers of Attrition (change in rank) |
| Work-life balance (+1) | Manager quality (Nil) |
| Location (-1) | Compensation (Nil) |
| Compensation (Nil) | Work-life balance (+2) |
| Respect (Nil) | Respect (Nil) |
| Coworker quality (+2) | People management (-2) |
| Manager quality (Nil) | Location (+2) |
| Vacation (-2) | Coworker quality (-1) |
| Future career opportunity (+1) | Future career opportunity (+1) |
| Job interest alignment (+2) | Recognition (-2) |
| Ethics (+3) | Senior leadership reputation (+4) |
Source: Gartner Global Talent Monitor Survey, 1Q25