Nearly one in three Australian workers plan to leave their current employer in 2026 (Perkbox/YouGov). In agencies and consultancies specifically, 18% are actively thinking about a move right now, and 10% expect to be gone within two years (Culture Amp, 2025). Most leaders are not surprised by those numbers. What tends to surprise them is where the data points next: excessive workload has overtaken pay as the primary driver of intent to leave, at 26% versus 18% (Perkbox/YouGov

Most founders who recognise a people operating system problem do one of two things: they try to fix everything at once, or they reach for the most visible symptom. That usually means a new project management tool, a team offsite, or a clearer job description. None of these are bad ideas. But starting there almost never works, because the sequence matters as much as the fix. Why the order matters A broken structure cannot be patched from the top. If you build a project managem