More than just a salary survey
The etonHR 2025 HR Industry Insights Survey captured the voices of hundreds of HR professionals across Australia, with representation from diverse industries, seniority levels, and organisational sizes. The data provides a timely pulse on the current state of the HR profession and the evolving expectations of those working within it
This report is grounded in facts - but goes far beyond them We’ve unpacked everything from pay and progression to flexibility, burnout and what HR professionals are really looking for.
By contributing, every participant has helped create one of the most relevant and valuable resources for the HR community today.
Welcome to the Insights.
HR Market Analysis
Executive Summary
One of the most significant takeaways is the continued misalignment between compensation and satisfaction. While a majority of respondents reported receiving salary increases over the past 12 months, more than a third expressed dissatisfaction with their current remuneration This signals a deeper issue beyond simple financials: many HR professionals feel undervalued relative to their contribution and market benchmarks.
Flexible working has become standard practice. The majority of organisations offer hybrid work options, with 2–3 days of remote work per week now firmly established as the norm. Lack of flexibility is no longer a competitive differentiator – it is a deal-breaker
A major point of concern is the widespread absence of clear career pathways for HR professionals. Many respondents reported feeling uncertain about future opportunities within their organisations, which directly correlates with increased intentions to seek roles in different industries.
Turnover drivers reveal a cultural crisis more than a compensation one. Poor leadership, misaligned values, and burnout were consistently identified as top reasons for leaving roles. While remuneration still matters, the human side of leadership, recognition and wellbeing carries equal – if not greater – weight.
While it’s clear HR teams are under pressure to deliver strategic impact in leaner, more demanding environments, the data highlights what matters most to today’s HR talent and where employers can differentiate themselves
Our recommendations for HR leaders:
Invest in Leadership Capability:
Strong leadership is one of the most effective retention tools. Poor management is driving exits across all age groups.
Create Visible Career Pathways: HR professionals want to grow. Those who don't see a future in their role are already looking elsewhere
Align Culture with Values:
Professionals are seeking organisations that walk their talk –misalignment between values and behaviours is a growing reason and risk for attrition.
The message is clear: retention is about leadership, alignment and meaningful growth. For organisations willing to listen, there's a real opportunity to stand out.
Respondent Demographics
Salary & Bonuses
Executive HR
When it comes to HR leadership pay, size really does matter. Salaries for HR Directors and CPOs clearly scale with the size of the business – both in base pay and bonus opportunities. In smaller organisations, HRDs average just under $200K, but that can climb well over $300K in companies with more than 500 staff. At CPO level, the gap widens further, with averages pushing beyond $340K in mid-sized firms.
Unsurprisingly, bonus eligibility becomes far more common at the top.
In smaller organisations, all CPOs surveyed were bonus eligible but the same wasn’t true for many HR Directors within that cohort. And even where bonuses are offered, they tend to be modest, particularly at the HRD level, where the average percentage remains relatively low.
What’s clear is that the same title can mean very different things depending on company size. If you’re hiring or benchmarking your own career, don’t just look at the job title – look at the context. Scope, scale, influence and level of risk are the true drivers of remuneration value.
HR Director/Head of HR
CPO/GM of HR
Pay Trends & Satisfaction
Anticipate a salary increase in the next 12 months
Very
There’s a strong sense of movement in the market when it comes to pay, with over two-thirds (67.9%) of respondents having received a salary increase in the past 12 months, and an even greater 73% expecting another increase in the year ahead. This upward pressure reflects both cost-of-living adjustments and continued demand for experienced HR professionals.
In addition, nearly 60% (59.5%) of respondents reported receiving an annual bonus, indicating that performance-based or incentive-driven pay remains a key part of total reward strategies.
However, despite these trends, satisfaction with overall salary packages was mixed. While some respondents are content, there remains a noticeable portion who feel dissatisfied or indifferent – suggesting that beyond base pay, expectations around total reward, transparency and career progression may be driving perceptions.
Flexibility & Hybrid Work
It’s been one of the most debated topics since COVID, but our findings show that flexibility remains a non-negotiable for today’s HR professionals, particularly at the mid-senior level. Flexibility continues to be one of the most decisive factors for HR professionals, not just in choosing where to work, but in deciding whether to stay.
Our findings suggest:
Flexibility was consistently ranked as a top priority for both retention and attraction. A lack of flexibility was among the top 5 reasons people had left a role in the past 12 months, especially for mid-to-senior HR professionals.
Many respondents indicated that organisations with genuine flexibility (rather than performative policies) had stronger retention rates.
Flexible Arrangements offered:
Most common: Flexible start/finish times, hybrid options and compressed work weeks. Less common but present: Job sharing and remote-first options.
93.8% of HR talent noted that hybrid work is offered in their current organisation.
Hybrid working on offer for HR talent in 2025
Career Progression & Benefits
When it comes to both attraction and retention, one theme stood out time and time again: career progression It was one of the most frequently cited motivators for changing roles and just as critical for keeping great people
While it’s a clear motivator, our survey found that career pathways are only in place for 28.3% of respondents. It’s clear that HR professionals aren’t just looking for their next job; they’re looking for clear pathways, genuine growth and HR leaders who’ll back them to get there.
How HR Talent see their next move:
hy Findings
career pathways are only in place for 28 3% of respondants
6% of Gen Z respondents feel that they have a clear career path in their t role No(44%) Yes(28%)
The question was asked to HR talent: Are Career Pathways clear in your current role/organisation?
Unclear(28%)
Only 36% of Gen Z respondents feel that they have a clear career path in their current role.
Career Progression & Benefits
Flexible/HybridWork
LargerBonusPotential
AdditionalPaidLeave
SuperannuationAboveStandard
ProfessionalDevelopmentAllowance
PrivateHealthInsurance
PaidParentalLeaveAboveStandard
EAP/WellnessPrograms
CarAllowance
VolunteeringLeave
Reportedbenefitscurrentlyoffered:
Outsideofflexibilitycomingitatnumber1,EAPprogramscameinatnumber2 with86%offeredEAP/WellnessProgramsintheircurrentrole
62%notedtheirorganisationspayPaidParentalLeaveabovetheminimum requirements
45%receiveVolunteeringLeave
38%notedreceivingadditionalpaidleave
19%notedreceivingaProfessionalDevelopmentallowance
10%receivePrivateHealthInsurance
Only8%ofHRtalentreceiveSuperannuationabovestandardrate
HR Attrition Trends
Across every generation, the message is clear: people don’t leave jobs, they leave poor leadership. It was the most consistently cited reason for leaving across all age groups. While leadership remains the standout driver of attrition, the secondary reasons reveal distinct generational shifts in expectations.
The takeaway? Leadership matters, but so does meeting people where they are in their careers. Retention strategies need to reflect that nuance.
These insights point to the need for stronger leaders, clearer progression pathways, and cultures that genuinely reflect an organisation’s values, especially for retaining mid-career HR professionals.
HR Talent who HAVE left a role in the last 12 months:
Top 3 Reasons HR talent WOULD leave their current role:
The Value of Qualifications
This is a question that always comes up: Does further study actually improve your chances of career progression? It’s one of the reasons we wanted to move beyond the usual salary data and dig into what really matters in HR careers.
The results were eye-opening.
More than 80% of respondents placed moderate or no importance on tertiary qualifications – and the same applied to postgraduate study, including MBAs and governance certifications. In short, employers are clearly prioritising vocational experience over academia when it comes to hiring and advancement decisions.
That said, our view is a little more nuanced. While formal study may not carry the weight it once did on paper, the true value of postgraduate qualifications often lies in the alumni networks they unlock In today’s HR landscape, connections and professional communities are powerful vehicles for career growth.
So before you commit tens of thousands of dollars – and countless weekends – to further study, consider what you're really hoping to gain. The return on investment may not come from the letters after your name, but rather the people you meet along the way
TertiaryQualifications
Bachelor’sDegreeNon-TertiaryMaster’s/MBADirector’sCertifications
High imporance
Moderate importance
Low importance
No importance
HR Hiring Challenges
When HR leaders were asked why team members had left in the past year, the top responses were higher pay elsewhere, redundancy, and lack of career progression.
But when we asked HR professionals themselves what would actually cause them to leave (or what had) a more layered story emerged. Poor leadership, burnout, organisational culture, and values misalignment featured heavily in employee responses, yet these internal drivers rarely surfaced in the leadership view
This discrepancy reveals more than just a data gap, it points to a potential blind spot in how we understand and manage attrition. Exit interviews can often miss the mark, with many employees unwilling to call out issues like leadership or culture directly. Whether out of loyalty, discomfort, or a desire to leave quietly, the truth is often softened and critical insights are lost.
Top
And given this data is HR speaking about HR, it raises an even bigger question: are we promoting individuals into leadership based on capability, or just tenure and technical skill? Poor leadership was consistently flagged as a reason for leaving, so if we want to lift retention, do we need to rethink how we select, support, and measure our people leaders?
In the last 12 months, HR Leaders’ teams have:
5 challenges that HR teams are currently facing:
Looking ahead, HR teams are facing a dual-front challenge: tackling systemic people issues like retention and engagement, while also adapting to structural shifts including workforce planning, technology adoption, and changing regulatory landscapes. Notably, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DE&I) emerged as the area receiving the least focus from organisations, with just 4% identifying it as a top priority.
