Common Reasons Employees Seek New Jobs

 

If you randomly ask about the number one reason people seek new employment, many will say compensation as their belief. Few observers, even the top experts, maintain that compensation level is unimportant. Obviously, all employees want to earn as high a salary as possible for all the usual reasons.

Yet, hundreds of studies and surveys show that better compensation seldom, if ever, ranks at the top of the list for changing jobs. In the opinion of most seasoned employees, there are simply more important reasons for being happy at one’s job.

Some of the most common reasons for changing jobs are more subjective than objective.

• You are spending one half of your waking hours in a place that doesn’t “feel” right. This is often the most common reason for a job change. Although a very subjective issue, everyone knows that feeling.
  
  
• You have a feeling that your employer wouldn’t miss you if you were gone. If you’ve had these feelings, you know how totally destructive they can be to your daily performance, regardless of how dedicated you want to be. This can happen when management fails to tell employees that they are appreciated and welcome. Feeling expendable and considered nothing more than a “spare part” by their employer, is consistently demoralizing to staff.
  
  
• You believe that you’re not receiving sufficient support to perform your job. Whether this feeling originates from your perception of unnecessary rules, complicated procedures or a refusal of supervisors to properly explain their expectations, this can become a pervasive destroyer of your confidence, motivation, dedication and workplace enjoyment.
  
  
• You believe there are few, if any, promotion or job shadowing opportunities at your current employer. This major reason for changing jobs has been a consistent “leader” in employee unrest for decades. It is a valid reason to consider new employment. Unless you are fervently happy with your current position and uninterested in future advancement opportunities, believing that you lack the ability to move up your employer’s organization chart can seriously change your formerly positive and motivated approach to your current job.
  
  
• You feel you are underpaid. Finally, we come to the compensation issue. But insufficient compensation tends to become a major motivator only when combined with one or more of the first four problems. Most employees are satisfied with fair, not necessarily overly high compensation. But when combined with one or more additional reasons, even higher than market compensation is often not enough to convince employees to stay with their employer.

Should you be experiencing more than one of these issues, it may be time to explore new employment opportunities. Be sure to evaluate the efforts of potential employers before making any decisions. Those that are successful may have a corporate culture and management team that create a positive and comfortable workplace environment. Try to learn about employee turnover rates. You can safely equate low turnover rates with fair compensation and a positive workplace. Again, there are no guarantees, but these are positive indicators. Doing a bit of research on the organization’s Web site and asking lots of questions during the interview process will help you decide if accepting a new role is the best move for you.

SIGN UP TODAY to receive a monthly career tips newsletter!