From the Herman Trend Alert (sorry, no link):
A global survey of 4,500 workers indicates that more people anticipate leaving their employers this year than last. In the 2006 BlessingWhite study, 65 percent said that they expected to “definitely” remain with their employers through the year. In the 2007 study, that number was down to 58 percent.
Also of interest, more respondents in 2007 said that there is “no way” they would stay (eight percent up from six percent—a 33 percent increase). European employers face the greatest threat: eleven percent said there is “no way” they will stay.
Moreover, employees in Europe and Asia appear less content with their current jobs than those in the United States or Canada. Only 49 percent of Europeans and 54 percent of employees in the Asia-Pacific region expect to stay with their employers, compared with 60 percent of North Americans. (We think that market volatility and the threat of recession was working here.)
“‘No way’ they would stay” is an interesting turn of phrase for a survey question. I agree with their parenthetical comment that recession concerns are swaying North American employees. Still, it is notable that so many people seem to have their mind set already.
I am curious to know how this data breaks out among the different ages. My suspicion is that the Gen Y employees are far more eager to move on to the next opportunity than the older generations. Career path is crucial to Gen Y, the majority of whom are at the beginning of their career.
If that suspicion is accurate then this graph becomes a significant concern for many companies:
We have been talking for years about employees’ lack of trust for their employers. This trust issue motivates them to feel like they must take control of their own careers. Our research indicates that workers are looking to their employers for training, education, and career pathing. This fact should concern the many organizations that eliminated their in-house training functions during the last economic slowdown and are still playing “catch up”.