IES Blog

American workers continue to sow seeds of discontent about current positions

Posted on December 21st, 2011 Read time: 1 minutes

Talent and career management group Right Management recently released its annual employee satisfaction poll, which found that for the third straight year, more than 50 percent of respondents intend to seek a new position in 2012.

Specifically, 84 percent stated they will be actively looking for a new job next year – the same percentage as 2010 and a 24 percent increase from 2009.

In addition, 9 percent responded "maybe" and reported that they were networking, while just 5 percent said they intend to stay at their current position.

"The survey findings reflect a lot of employee dissatisfaction across North America," said Right Management executive vice president Bram Lowsky. "The prolonged period of economic uncertainty has meant much less job mobility than usual, and employees understandably believe they have fewer career opportunities, either internally or via a new position."

This creates a conundrum for HR services, as Toolbox points out that the cost of turnover is estimated to be up to 1.5 times an employee's annual salary. Management must determine who their star workers are and figure out ways to keep them on board when the market stabilizes.

Lowsky recommends having constructive career discussions with these employees, if only to let them know that their hard work is being recognized. 

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