How business leaders see technology, culture, connection and the workplace
95% of business leaders rate the workplace as significant to performance. Only 5% name it the biggest influence on this year’s results. This report explores that gap in workplace impact on performance through five findings from the PMG Leadership Series launch in Queensland. There, PMG’s Director of Workplace Strategy Tica Masuku moderated a conversation with former Wallabies captain Michael Hooper and former NRL Player and Queensland Rugby League CEO Ben Ikin. Read it to see where the workplace sits in your own performance story.
What is the Purpose of our QLD 2026 Report:
This report was created to help you:
- Build a stronger investment case. Pair utilisation data with experience and outcome measures. You can then show how your workplace contributes to performance and where to invest next.
- Get more from your technology. Understand how the culture and leadership around new tools shape the value they deliver.
- Give hybrid teams a reason to come in. Plan team rhythm and visible leadership attendance around what your people value most in the office, with The Return-to-Office Playbook.
- See what dashboards miss. Use human geography, the study of how people and place shape each other, to read how your floor plan performs day to day.
What You’ll Get Inside:
- Five findings from the room. Leaders’ views on technology, cultural barriers, the office, the workplace and human geography. Each finding is split by industry and seniority and read against the latest research from Microsoft, ADP, Gallup and the Property Council of Australia.
- Insights from the stage. Michael Hooper on the direction a team needs under pressure. Ben Ikin on how a system performs through the quality of its parts and the strength of the connections between them.
- Human geography in practice. Tica Masuku shows how human geography, the study of how people and place shape each other, reveals how the workplace shapes performance in ways utilisation dashboards miss. In the age of AI, noticing those effects becomes a leader’s competitive advantage.
- Five questions for your next workplace decision. The questions to take to your leadership team before you commit to your next workplace move.
Key Insights:
56%
of leaders name technology or tools as the biggest influence on team performance this year.
82%
of technology-first leaders name hybrid disconnect or leadership alignment as the biggest barrier to culture.
67%
say culture and connection matter most to their people in the office, rising to 89% among founders, MDs and EDs.
95%
rate the workplace’s impact on performance as significant, while only 5% name it the biggest influence.
59%
had never heard of human geography. Every leader familiar with it rated the workplace’s impact as very significant.
