Signal Leaders at the largest organizations feel very high productivity pressure at twice the rate

Summary

McKinsey's 2026 survey finds that the pressure to raise productivity rises with company size. Leaders at organizations with more than 50,000 employees are twice as likely as those at organizations with 1,000 to 5,000 employees to report very high pressure to deliver more gains. The finding sits alongside broader results showing that 61 percent of executives feel high pressure and two-thirds see their organizations as overly complex. The report links heavy pressure to the limits of traditional fixes such as restructuring and cost cutting. It suggests that the largest organizations have particular reason to look at end-to-end process redesign rather than another round of structural change.