RWR Health Market Insights Guide 2027

Executive summary

Six things the workforce is telling you

This survey captures a workforce in motion, driven less by salary than by a search for flexibility, career progression and organisational understanding. That is encouraging news for employers, because meaning, recognition and clear direction are the levers you already control, and none of them waits on a budget round.

All figures are percentages of those who answered each question.

Who responded

Who we heard from

Health and social services professionals nationwide: clinical, care, allied health, administration and leadership.

This is a senior, experienced market. Nearly two thirds have more than seven years in the sector, so the signals in this report come from people who know what good looks like, and who are worth building around.

The talent market

People are open to move

The talent pool is in motion: 56% of candidates are open to a move within six months, and 69% within twelve. Crucially, this intent is backed by behaviour, 79% of active movers have already applied for roles. The takeaway for hiring managers? Your target talent is reachable, engaged, and available now.

Loyalty runs to the profession, and it is yours to earn. Two thirds have changed employer at least once in five years, and roughly three in ten have changed twice or more, while 49% have spent a decade-plus in the sector. And intent to move peaks at both ends of the tenure curve: 50% of those at six-to-twelve months are moving now, and 38% of those past five years are too. The first year is a flight risk, and so is the plateau.

A leadership pipeline is forming, and it is up for grabs. 34% are seeking a step up or a move into leadership, while 15% intend to leave healthcare altogether. Only 21% want a like-for-like swap: the market isn't shopping for the same job elsewhere, it's looking for a different shape of career.

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The pay picture

You do not have to win on salary

80% are not fully satisfied with their pay, yet only 16% say salary is the single thing that would actually move them. Better still, 43% of the market is reachable without any uplift at all, which means the right story beats the biggest budget.

Salary transparency is free retention. The group with no visibility of market rates is the most restless of all at 71%, ahead of those who know they are underpaid at 52%. Simply telling people where they sit does more for you than a raise you cannot afford.

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What decides it

What keeps people

Asked for the single thing most likely to move them, the workforce splits three ways, and salary is the smallest of the three. The other two are yours to influence today.

Among those already moving within six months, the order shifts: salary 19%, burnout 13%, feeling undervalued 13%, progression 12%, work-life balance 12%. Recognition and a sustainable workload are what hold people at the point of decision, which is why a counter-offer so often arrives too late and aimed at the smallest of the three levers.

The cheapest win

Progression is the cheapest win

Only one in seven people has a pathway that is defined and communicated, which means a written next step puts you ahead of six employers out of seven. Structure, not opportunity, is what the market is missing, and structure is free.

Low-cost interventions represent a significant, overlooked opportunity. Mentoring at 14% and secondment at 10% are the two lowest-cost options available and the two least offered, so they are sitting there unclaimed for any employer willing to move first.

Pair the pathway with a next step and it works. Intent to move now is 47% among those with no pathway and 50% among those with a clear one, because a pathway equips people to progress. Give them somewhere internal to progress to and that same energy stays in your building.

The strongest predictor

Being understood beats being paid

"How well does your current employer understand what motivates you?" The answer to this one question predicts movement better than anything else we measured.

Connection is the "stay-or-go" switch. Our data highlights a stark divide in turnover intent based on whether an employee feels a pull beyond their paycheck. Among the disconnected (19% of the market) , lacking any connection, 95% are currently looking to move. Among the fully connected (22% of the market) , where there is a compelling reason to stay, only 9% are currently looking to move.

★

Understanding is the retention lever. It costs nothing and it outperforms pay. Where employees rate employer understanding at the bottom of the scale, 65% are moving now. At the top, 16%. And of those with no strong connection to their employer, 95% are moving now, against 9% of those who say "yes, absolutely" there's a compelling reason to stay.

Not sure how your people would rate you?

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Working model

You can overcome the remote-work market noise

Flexibility in health is a time question, not a location question. 71% want flexible start and finish times, which is entirely deliverable in a rostered, on-site environment, and only 45% are asking for remote or hybrid. The thing people want most is the thing you can actually give them.

Flexibility is a first-mover advantage. Three quarters report no policy change in the last year (or none that applies to them). The market has gone quiet, so any employer willing to move first on start/finish control or a compressed week is differentiating. And note job sharing, the arrangement employers most often propose: wanted by 3%.

People will move house for the right role, but won't spend the extra time getting there. 57% won't commute past thirty minutes, yet well over half are open to relocating in some form. For hard-to-fill regional roles, relocation support is a more effective lever than widening the local catchment radius. Recruit locally; relocate deliberately.

Your reputation

Share knowledge to win candidates over

The number one thing standing between you and a hire is not money, it is certainty. Uncertainty about a new employer is nearly three times the next barrier, and certainty is something you can manufacture deliberately.

Employer brand is the most winnable commercial advantage in this market. 82% weigh reputation and 31% will pass on a role over uncertainty alone, so every review you answer, every leader you make visible and every interview you tighten converts directly into candidates saying yes. People are checking reviews and talking to your staff before they accept, which means your team is already your best marketing.

18% simply need someone in their corner , either unsure their skills are competitive or short on confidence. These are capable people one good conversation away from applying, which is what a consultative recruitment partner is for.

Technology

Leverage AI. Lead as a human.

53% report some level of AI adoption, which is real progress, and more than a fifth simply do not know where their organisation stands. That gap is an easy win: bringing people into the conversation costs nothing and turns a quiet rollout into a reason to stay.

The clearest opportunity here is human judgement. Respondents worry about being filtered out before a person sees them, and as one put it, AI can polish a written application but cannot help you in the room. AI's presence in recruitment is only growing: healthcare workers are largely neutral to that shift, though 38% want more guidance on how to use AI in their own job search.

What this means for employers

The 2026 toolkit

Four moves, each tied to a number in this report. None of them starts with a pay rise.

And if you're a candidate…

Know your market worth: poor visibility of market rates is the single biggest driver of restlessness, so get a real benchmark before you decide anything. Ask every prospective employer to show you the defined next step, not just promise one. Use AI as a drafting aid, never a substitute; employers are already screening for it, and it can't help you in the room. And move with confidence: this is an experienced-professional market where 56% of your peers are already in motion.

Talk to an RWR Health consultant about where you sit in the market.

Interactive tool

Your retention opportunity

Six questions, no sign-up, and an indicative read on where your biggest retention wins are sitting. The model runs on the movement rates recorded in this survey, so every answer moves the number by the amount the data actually observed, and every result comes back with the levers that would shift it.

Talk to RWR Health

Turn these insights into your hiring plan

Tell us what you're hiring for and we'll come back with a view of your talent market: salary benchmarks, candidate availability and how your employer brand reads to the people you want. No obligation, no account, a real consultant replies.

✓

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An RWR Health consultant will be in touch shortly. In the meantime, keep exploring the insights above.