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You may have sat through a leadership update and wondered whether the people presenting have any idea how the room feels. A large 2026 survey suggests the picture is mixed: more workers than last year rate their relationship with work as healthy, yet fewer than one in three do, and just over half see their leaders as open. It is a corporate measure, not a verdict on any workplace.

What the researchers did

HP, the technology company, publishes an annual Work Relationship Index. The 2026 edition was run with the National Research Group. It surveyed 19,506 desk-based workers in 15 countries between 7 April and 13 May 2026. The countries were the United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Saudi Arabia, India, Australia, Japan, Indonesia and China.

There were three groups: 15,003 knowledge workers (roughly 1,000 per country), 3,002 IT decision-makers and 1,501 business leaders. Respondents completed an online survey of about 25 minutes. The headline index asked people how happy they were in their relationship with work on a five-point scale. Only the top score counted as a healthy relationship. A score of 4 was the watch-out zone, and scores of 1 to 3 were the critical zone.

The figures in this article refer to knowledge workers unless stated otherwise.

What they found

Twenty-nine per cent of knowledge workers reported a healthy relationship with work. That is up eight points from 21 per cent in 2025, and the report describes workplace health as broadly back to 2024 levels. Thirty-seven per cent were in the watch-out zone and 35 per cent in the critical zone.

On leadership, 54 per cent of knowledge workers agreed that senior leaders communicate transparently and openly, up seven points on the year before. Similar shares agreed that leaders show empathy (54 per cent) and demonstrate the behaviours they ask of staff (53 per cent). Fifty-one per cent agreed that leaders provide clear direction and context during times of change. In addition, 54 per cent trusted senior leaders to make the right decisions for employees, and 57 per cent trusted them to do so for the business.

The report also compared companies. Workers at high-performing companies were nearly seven times as likely to report a healthy relationship with work as those at poorly performing companies, at 55 per cent against 8 per cent.

Taken together, the pattern is of improvement from a difficult 2025 rather than of broad satisfaction. Roughly half of workers see leaders as open, and less than a third feel their relationship with work is healthy. The survey does not directly test whether leaders understand how staff feel, since it asks only workers for their views in this part of the report.

What this does and does not show

This is a snapshot from an online survey run by a technology company. Questions about how leaders behave rest on what workers perceive, not on what leaders actually do or say. It shows associations at one point in time. It does not show that clearer communication causes a healthier relationship with work, or the reverse.

The index is a company research measure and is not a mental health assessment. A score in the critical zone does not mean a person has a health condition, and a high score does not rule one out. The sample is also limited to desk-based workers. It does not cover people in hands-on, shift or outdoor jobs, whose experience of leaders may be very different.

The report covers 15 countries, with about 1,000 knowledge workers per country. The Australian portion is therefore a fraction of the whole, and this article does not give Australian figures. Workplace rules and norms also differ between countries, and nothing here is Australian workplace or legal advice.

Finally, the comparison between high- and low-performing companies relies on how respondents described their own employers. It cannot show whether healthy workers raise performance or whether strong performance makes work feel better.

Questions to ask

• When my organisation announces a change, do I get the reasons and context as well as the decision, and could I explain it to a colleague?
• Is there a safe, regular way for people at my level to tell leaders how the work really feels, and do we ever hear what happened afterwards?
• Do I judge my leaders by what they say in updates or by what they do when something goes wrong?

If work is affecting your mood or sleep, consider speaking with your doctor or another qualified health professional. In Australia, Lifeline is on 13 11 14, and 000 is for emergencies.

Source: HP Work Relationship Index 2026: The race to adapt (Global Report)

Illustration of leadership that listens to employees' experiences. AI-generated editorial illustration. This article summarises published research in our own words and is general information, not personal health advice.