The changing economic state, as well as the lasting impacts brought by the pandemic, has shifted the perception of many employees on their employment – including the motivation to move jobs. Knowing this, consultancy firm Barnett Waddingham researched employee wellbeing – which has led them to discover current insights on various aspects of employment such as the pattern of changing jobs.
Based on the survey that covered 3,000 individuals in the UK workforce, they discovered that one in seven UK employees (14%) expect to move jobs within six months. Alongside this, they also gained insights into the factors that drive the change and also the various patterns across the different demographic in the UK workforce.
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Findings of the Survey: 1 in 7 Plan to Move Jobs
This research currently stands as the most recent one that was conducted by Barnett Waddingham. The aim of it was to visualise the resilience of the UK workforce, as well as to provide indicators that are expected to help employers navigate possible challenges.
Acknowledging that the past couple of years has been particularly challenging, the firm conducted research to learn from the impacts of the various turbulent state across the globe. The research was categorised into three; tangible aspects of resilience, intangible aspects of resilience and positive vs negative resilience.
The topic of changing jobs was discussed in the tangible aspects of resilience section. Within that, the cost-of-living crisis is cited as the most recent challenge that has been affecting the UK workforce significantly. Through the survey, they found that although more than half (57%) of the workers have not changed employers in the last two years, 43% have at least once switched employers.
The exact numbers are 22% changed employers once, 11% changed twice, 7% three times, 2% four times and 1% five times.
The top three reasons for changing jobs are unhappiness in the role (25%), inadequate pay (20%) and poor line management (19%). However, if looked at based on gender, this varies between men and women workers.
Among men, the top three reasons are inadequate pay (19%), change in career (17%) and lack of career progression (17%). While for women, the top three reasons are unhappiness in the role (29%), inadequate pay (21%) and poor line management (20%).
Impact of the Cost-of-Living Crisis
Inadequate pay is one of the top reasons why workers have resorted to changing employers may be assumed due to the rising costs that individuals are now navigating. Based on the latest numbers provided by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the inflation rate as of March 2023 is at 8.9%. Taking inflation into account, the most recent numbers show that average pay in Great Britain has fallen to -2.0%.
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The rise in costs is not just observed in the UK but has also been happening across the world. Energy and food costs rising have been cited as a response to the conflicts happening in Ukraine as well as global recovery from the pandemic.
Research published by the UK Parliament further shows that rising costs of consumer goods are further rising inflation rates. In terms of food prices, the prices seen in March 2023 were 19.1% higher than the year before – making it a 45-year high.