Survey finds one in five workers looking to make the switch

Did you get passed over for a promotion again? Does your boss never acknowledge your hard work or successes? Do you constantly work late into the night and are glued to your work email on the weekends?
 

If you answered yes to any of these questions, you may be ready to say goodbye to your current employer and look for another opportunity. And you’re not alone: According to a CareerBuilder survey, 21 percent of full-time employees plan to change jobs in 2014. This is the largest amount in the post-recession era and up from 17 percent in 2013, showing that as the economy continues to recover, restless workers may be more confident about their chances of finding a more desirable job at a new company.

 

Job satisfaction dropping

While the reason for wanting to leave a job might not always be a negative one, this survey shows that a dip in job satisfaction may be a contributing factor to turnover this year. Fifty-nine percent of workers are satisfied with their jobs, down from 66 percent in 2013; 18 percent are dissatisfied, up from 15 percent last year. Those who are dissatisfied cite salary concerns (66 percent) and not feeling valued (65 percent) most often as reasons for their dissatisfaction.

 

Workers most likely to change jobs

Of those workers who say they are generally dissatisfied with their jobs, 58 percent plan to change gigs in 2014. Yet many workers have specific frustrations that are causing them to fly the cubicle coop. Forty-five percent of workers who are unhappy with advancement opportunities at their company are looking to leave this year, while 39 percent of workers who are dissatisfied with work/life balance plan to find new employment.

 

Other factors that appear to make workers significantly more likely to change jobs than others include:

 

    Workers who feel underemployed: 39 percent

    Workers who are highly stressed: 39 percent

    Workers who have a poor opinion of their boss’s performance: 37 percent

    Workers who feel they were overlooked for a promotion: 36 percent

    Workers who have been with their company two years or less: 35 percent (compared to 13 percent of workers who’ve been with their company for five or more years.)

    Worker who didn’t receive a pay increase in 2013: 28 percent

 

What can employers do to convince those workers at flight risk to stay? Rosemary Haefner, vice president of human resources for CareerBuilder, says that offering frequent recognition, merit bonuses, training programs and clearly defined career paths are important ways to show workers what they mean to the company.

 

Yet even if employers put in the extra effort, employees may still see this as the right time to make a change. Haefner says that in general, when more workers change jobs, it’s usually a sign the labor market is warming up. “During the recession and in its aftermath, fewer people voluntarily left jobs because the chances of finding a new or better one were low compared to a healthier economic cycle.”

 

Many workers planning to stay put

Before employers go into panic mode, the good news is that 79 percent of workers have no intention of leaving their current job this year. For those workers who plan to stay put, a variety of factors weigh into their decision.

 

Considering how much time employees spend with their “work families,” it may not be a surprise that many workers value the relationships they’ve made with co-workers: 54 percent say they aren’t leaving because they like the people they work with. Others know that when they have good work/life balance, it’s not worth giving up, with 50 percent citing that as a reason to stay.

 

Other factors that are keeping workers at their current jobs include: