Almost two-thirds of Australian executives and senior leaders plan to look for a new role within the next three months, despite most being satisfied with their pay, according to Page Executive's 2026 Executive Compensation & Trends Report.
The research found 75% of executives are happy with their compensation, yet 89% remain open to a new role and 42% are actively searching. Another quarter expect to leave their organisation within a year. The disconnect between pay satisfaction and job movement suggests something other than money is driving the leadership market.
Molly Green, Head of Page Executive Australia, said the numbers reveal a leadership market that looks calm on the surface but isn't underneath. "We're in an environment of global, geopolitical and economic uncertainty. In Australia there are productivity challenges, changes in the federal budget and AI which is changing how organisations and people fundamentally work," she said. "In uncertain times, people like to keep their options open, even CEOs."
Flexibility outranks pay
Green pointed to a shift in what executives actually want from a role. "Business leaders are also becoming increasingly value-driven. The data tells us they aren't willing to compromise their wellbeing and work flexibility for a paycheck," she said. "A lot of people in the C-Suite are in the sandwich generation and are raising a family and also dealing with older parents. They are looking for that balance that allows them to juggle both."
That extends to where they work. "Despite the widespread commentary about returning to the office, the data tells us that Director and C-Suite employees value the flexibility they've become accustomed to and many are not willing to sacrifice it in changing jobs," Green said.
Flexible and hybrid work arrangements ranked as the most valued benefit in the report. Two in three executives said they'd turn down a promotion if it meant compromising their wellbeing. Company cars, despite remaining one of the most common incentives on offer, didn't make the top five benefits executives said they actually wanted.
The strategy-execution gap
The report also uncovered a divide between the people setting strategy and the people responsible for delivering it. While 76% of senior leaders are confident their organisation can adapt to shifting market conditions, only 67% of senior managers - the layer directly responsible for execution - feel the same way.
"This was a surprising result. It really points to a strategic execution gap emerging at a time where businesses need to be agile in the face of volatile economic conditions and geopolitical shocks, from oil supply disruptions to AI and the rising cost of doing business," Green said. "Leadership alignment is critical here. Execution risk often sits between layers of leadership rather than in the strategy itself, and that could mean expensive change initiatives stall, and it's not because the strategy is wrong, but because the people expected to deliver it were never fully on board."
AI's personal versus organisational impact
AI showed up as its own kind of split. Around 83% of Australian business leaders use AI in their day-to-day work and say it's had a positive impact on them personally, but only 66% believe it's improving productivity across their organisation. More telling, 75% of senior leaders don't expect AI to affect their own role at all.
"The findings show that Australian business leaders are already embracing AI and seeing tangible benefits in their own work. The challenge now is translating those individual gains into organisation-wide productivity improvements," Green said. "As AI adoption matures, businesses that invest in the right skills, processes and culture will be best placed to unlock its full potential."
For executives navigating this shift, the gap between personal AI use and organisation-wide gains is where the real work sits. Leaders who assume AI won't change their own role may be underestimating how quickly the execution layer below them is changing. Resources like AI for Executives & Strategy can help bridge that understanding. For senior managers tasked with delivering on strategy, structured training such as an AI Learning Path for Senior Managers addresses the execution gap directly.
Why this matters for executives and strategy leaders
The report's core finding is that strategy is only as good as the layer executing it. With only two-thirds of senior managers confident in their organisation's ability to adapt, expensive initiatives are at risk of stalling not because the strategy is wrong, but because the people expected to deliver it were never fully on board. The executives who close that gap - by aligning their teams on AI adoption, flexibility expectations, and the reasons behind strategic shifts - will hold onto their talent and their momentum. Those who don't may find their best people are already looking.
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