Company reputation, personal stress level factors in decision to leave employer
Despite the uncertainty in the country’s current employment situation, many American workers who identify themselves as top performers are thinking about changing jobs.
Nearly half of United States workers (49 per cent) are at least somewhat likely to look for a job this year, found a recent survey by Aflac. More troubling for employers, a majority of those who say they are extremely or very likely to leave their jobs describe themselves as top performers, found the 2012 Aflac Workforces Report, which surveyed 1,900 benefits decision-makers and more than 6,100 U.S. workers.
“Employers should be concerned that after several years of recession and a very slow recovery, their top talent has a pent-up desire to leave for what they believe to be greener pastures,” said Audrey Boone Tillman, executive vice-president of corporate services at Aflac.
Those employees who are extremely or very likely to look for a new job this year say the following qualities describe them fairly or extremely well:
•hard worker (90 per cent)
•high achiever at work (79 per cent)
•highly educated (73 per cent)
•ambitious (64 per cent).
Fifty per cent of workers said benefits are very or extremely influential in the decision to leave a current employer. Other factors that play a role in the decision to leave include a company’s reputation (35 per cent) and how much an employer values retaining top employees (33 per cent).
Workers who said they are stressed out are nearly twice as likely (43 per cent versus 25 per cent) to leave their job compared to workers who are not stressed.
