New Survey Finds 75% of
Employees Looking for New Jobs
"It's All About the Money"
Seventy-five percent of all employees are looking for new employment opportunities, according to the 2004 U.S. Job Recovery and Retention Survey released today by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and CareerJournal.com. Thirty-eight percent of the human resource (HR) professionals surveyed said they have noticed an increase in turnover since the beginning of 2004.
The top three reasons employees say they are looking to leave their current positions, according to the survey, are:
- Better compensation elsewhere - 43%.
- Better career opportunities - 32%.
- Dissatisfaction with opportunities at current job - 22%.
"During a poor economy, employees tend to stay put," says Tony Lee, editor in chief, CareerJournal.com. "As the economy improves, interest in jumping ship rises dramatically among employees who are ready to earn more money and find enhanced opportunities for advancement."
"With so many employees already looking for jobs, the expertise of HR professionals is extremely important right now in retaining an organization's top talent," said Susan R. Meisinger, SPHR, president and CEO of SHRM. "HR professionals understand that it is far more expensive to recruit new employees than it is to retain them. Their efforts to create a positive work environment where employees are engaged, feel appreciated and see opportunities for career growth will help to decrease turnover rates."
In the survey, employees were asked about their job-search activity. The survey found that 35% of employees said they are actively job searching, and 40% are passively searching. Nearly half of the employed respondents said they would step up their job-seeking efforts as the job market improves. HR professionals believe that as employees leave their organization for new opportunities, most of the resignations will come from non-management (69%) and middle-management (19%) positions.
A quarter of the HR professionals surveyed also said they are very concerned about voluntary resignations. HR professionals believe the top three greatest threats to retention are:
- Better compensation elsewhere - 25%.
- Burnout - 24%.
- Dissatisfaction with potential for career development at organization - 19%.
As a result, HR executives are implementing retention programs in their organizations to keep productive employees. Retention programs include competitive merit increases, promoting qualified employees, career-development opportunities and bonuses. HR professionals consider competitive salaries (59%) and providing career-development opportunities (47%) as the most effective retention strategies.
SHRM and CareerJournal.com conducted the survey to determine opinions about job recovery and the effectiveness of retention strategies from the perspective of both HR professionals and employees. The survey questions were e-mailed to randomly selected SHRM members, yielding 389 responses from HR professionals, and randomly selected employees in the U.S., bearing 506 responses.
The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) is the
world’s largest association devoted to human resource management. Founded in
1948, SHRM currently has more than 500 affiliated chapters within the United
States and members in more than 100 countries. Visit SHRM Online at
www.shrm.org.
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