Despite the UK economy rebounding from the pandemic, labour shortages are still an ongoing issue. As of October 2023, 9.7% of UK businesses reported a shortage of workers.
So where are these workers going and why are they choosing to leave their current place of work? Analysis from The Conversation suggests employees are staying within the same industry and largely sidestepping, with the majority of resignations due to movement to competitors.
To investigate this trend further and find out how companies can better attract and retain talent, analysts at BrookConsult have surveyed 751 UK workers to see if they’re currently considering a new job and if so, why they are thinking about moving roles.
Two in Five UK Employees Are Looking To Move Employment Roles. Overall, 39.8% of the UK workforce are currently looking to move to a new job role. Despite ‘The Great Resignation’ starting back in 2021, these results highlight that increased movement in the UK labour market is yet to occur.
But why are two in five workers looking to move roles? Analysts at BrookConsult have narrowed down the main reasons that workers choose to leave an organisation.
The main reason workers are currently looking to switch to a new job is due to wanting a better salary, rewards and benefits, followed by feeling overworked and understaffed.
Here’s the breakdown on why employees are looking to move:
Due to the cost of living rapidly increasing in the UK since early 2021, and reaching its highest point of inflation recorded since 1992 in February 2022, 27.6% of workers are looking for a new job with a better salary, rewards and benefits.
Nonetheless, the 60.2% of workers who are looking to stay in their current employment are likely to suffer more from the cost of living crisis, as wages fall and the affordability of goods and services remains at its worst level.
Often employees can earn more by moving to another company, rather than progressing within the same employer. However, there are a few ways that employers can decrease salary, rewards and benefits dissatisfaction.
To reduce the amount of employee dissatisfaction with salaries and benefits, increase transparency within your business, create bands and be open with what people are paid. Ensure that there is no disparity in pay between genders and be ethical with how you are paying your employees.
Schedule in regular pay reviews and create comprehensive progression plans; even consider a profit share if this is feasible. If you don’t have the capacity to increase wages or create profit shares, give praise and recognition by looking into rewarding staff with additional days off, or other exciting benefits.
Likewise, monitor competitors. Are they paying more, and do they offer shorter working weeks? Some companies in competitive industries have introduced four day working weeks. Look at their social media feeds and job advertisements to gauge this and work out how you can provide the benefits that will help to retain company talent.
24.2% of those surveyed felt overworked and understaffed in their current job. With the pandemic encouraging people across the UK to reevaluate their work-life balance, additional benefits such as the four day working week and more holiday days are encouraging people to move elsewhere, while being overworked and understaffed is also a major factor. This can create a negative cycle, as more staff leave the business, the remainder feel overworked, resulting in further resignations and staff walkouts.
15.4% of employees are unhappy with the management strategies in place at their current organisation. This can be down to a number of factors, including role conflict, work overload and even poor organisation skills.
To improve your current management strategies, seek input and ideas from all of your employees. More than often, decisions are made by senior staff members without seeking input from junior employees. Your team is likely to have brilliant ideas that can aid business growth and make work life happier.
At BrookConsult, we offer a range of business management strategies, including Leadership and Management training that can help you to create long lasting relationships with your employees. We adopt a multi-disciplinary approach, addressing all of the issues affecting your business, helping you to better respond to opportunities and challenges.
13.5% of participating workers said they were in search of a new job due to lack of progression opportunities in their current place of employment.
Ensure that the line managers in your organisation are properly trained to identify and encourage talents within each team member. Progression plans are essential for every employee in a business. Build tailored progression plans that set out clear objectives and goals for each staff member, leaving time to implement these development plans.
This can help to reduce the number of employees leaving work due to the lack of new opportunities.
Despite the BBC highlighting that workers are resigning due to ethics and value differences, only one in ten UK employees searching for a new role said that they are considering moving job roles due to disagreeing with current company values.
Few workers are now looking to move to new employment opportunities based on whether corporate values align with their own. To prevent employees leaving due to a misalignment of values, focus on what you’re delivering to workplace culture. For many workers, when values are matched, levels of performance increase.
When hiring new employees, ensure the person’s values align with your business’. When establishing company values, ensure that they are both ethical and societal.
Employees are more likely to sidestep into a role with another employer in the same industry, as opposed to retraining or moving industry. If you’re looking for help retaining the current talent at your organisation, BrookConsult offer a range of business consultancy services aimed to help even the smallest of businesses grow and develop into successful organisations surrounded by talented employees.
About BrookConsult
BrookConsult specialises in providing leading business consultancy services including strategy planning. We have previously worked with a range of organisations nationwide, creating bespoke plans to enhance departmental performance, strengthen growth and increase profitability.
With specially tailored business plans, companies can protect and attain the current talent in their organisation whilst giving their business the direction it needs to achieve success.
