Written by: Dr. Allen Lycka, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
A new piece of research has found 39% of employees who have been with a company for less than six months plan to leave within the next 12 months, a six point increase from last year.
With the new job honeymoon phase well and truly over, employees are increasingly determined to make their voices heard when it comes to ensuring their workplace experience addresses their individual needs. They’re not prepared to hang around in jobs that aren’t working for them.
So why are American workers so unhappy that they are thinking about quitting so soon after starting?
Often it’s a case of finding out that the grass is not quite as green as they might have been led to believe.
That can be because the people who hired them are not the ones they end up working with, and the vague promises and commitments made during the recruitment process fail to materialize once they are in position.
Subtle reasons
It’s not that employers are breaching the terms of the employment contract––it’s more subtle than that.
It might be to do with the corporate culture of the employer, or its attitude to hybrid work or flexibility around working hours. An interviewee may have been incentivised by the prospect of lots of travel, and got none, or vice versa.
It may be something as simple as a personality clash with a manager. As anyone who’s ever had to deal with a boss they found difficult will know, there’s no surer way for what looked like a dream job to turn sour overnight.
Employees want some time in the office, but they don’t want to have to go in five days a week. They are comfortable sharing work emails and chats for an improved employee experience, but not so keen about the sharing of social media posts. And they would prefer AI to assist them rather than evaluate them.
One interesting trend is that a significant number of employees who leave a job are boomeranging back to a previous employer, and companies are becoming increasingly focussed on recruiting alumni as potential rehires.
Employees who return to a previous employer have a much better insight into what their working life is going to be like than those joining a new employer for the first time. They know the questions to ask, and the pitfalls (and people) to avoid.
Sometimes it takes an employee who feels undervalued and under-compensated by their employer leaving for a new job to make the original employer sit up and take notice. It’s only when the employee is gone that the employer realizes what they have lost.
On-boarding new employees is a costly business for employers, and it can be more efficient to rehire someone who already has valuable knowledge that will take a brand-new employee time to acquire.
For the boomeranging employee, this may mean they have the leverage to jump a couple of levels in the management structure to a better-paid position with more responsibility in less time than it would take them to progress if they had stayed put.
If you’ve come to the end of your honeymoon period and things aren’t working out quite as you hoped, there are lots of positions open at companies rating highly in terms of employee satisfaction. Discover those on the The Hill Jobs Board.
PayPal consistently performs well in employee satisfaction surveys, and has a successful executive engagement in a complex solution-selling and competitive environment. Right now, the company has a range of roles available across job functions; discover those here.
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Dr Allen E Lycka is one of the foremost authorities on happiness in the workplace and in life. His syndicated radio show/ podcast How to Live a Fantastic Lif”, is enjoyed by 7 million listeners monthly. His is available for keynote addresses, consultation and coaching, but his availability is strictly limited. Reach him at Dr. AllenLycka.com or Tami@Lycka.ca
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Dr. Allen Lycka, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Dr. Allen Lycka is acknowledged as one of the leading cosmetic dermatologists in the world. In 2003, Dr. Lycka was diagnosed with ALS and given six months to live. After fighting the diagnosis, he is here today as a result of his courage and tenacity. Having been given a “golden ticket” Dr. Lycka used his experience to co-author the books The Secrets To Living A Fantastic Life with Harriet Tinka, Pillars of Success with 1 New York Times Best Selling Author Jack Canfield and bLU volume 1 with Corey Poirier. He is the host and executive director of How To Live a Fantastic Life show with 4 million listeners per episode. He is a sought-after speaker.
