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Talent & Salary Insights Report 2026
Results from the industry's biggest salary survey are in, explore national benchmarking data from 1,500+ Insurance, Personal Injury, and WHS professionals.
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Results from the industry's biggest salary survey are in, explore national benchmarking data from 1,500+ Insurance, Personal Injury, and WHS professionals.
DownloadResults from the industry's biggest salary survey are in, explore national benchmarking data from 1,500+ Insurance, Personal Injury, and WHS professionals.
In 2026, 81% received an increase and 92% expect one next year. The gap between expectation and delivery is now where the retention risk sits.
Why doing nothing is the biggest risk for businesses. The biggest retention risk isn't offering 3% vs 5% it's offering nothing. Silence signals a lack of recognition. Offering nothing at all drives disengagement faster than any pay gap.
Recognition sits at the centre of retention, if your exit interviews keep citing salary, look again.
These numbers suggest the real issue is often what happens day to day: does someone feel appreciated, do they have some control over how they work, and can they see a path forward. Salary gets people in the door. These three get them to stay.
Leadership, empathy, and communication are what the workforce says matters most. Technical skills rank fourth, below every relational competency. Whilst AI handles the transactional layer, the skills that matter most are precisely what AI cannot replicate. The professionals your clients need most are the ones AI can’t replace.
Salary remains the number one driver for employees, consistent with last year’s findings and reflective of ongoing cost-of-living pressures and increased market transparency.
But what we’re seeing is a shift. Salary is now the baseline for attraction and retention, not the differentiator. What stands out is the growing importance of the overall employee experience, particularly how organisations deliver on flexibility, development, and day-to-day working environments.