Three-quarters of employees looking for new jobs, study says

Seventy-six percent of employees are looking for new employment opportunities, according to the 2005 U.S. Job Recovery and Retention Survey released today by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and CareerJournal.com (http://www.careerjournal.com/).

Sixty-five percent of HR professionals indicated that they were concerned about the voluntary resignations at their organizations. To prevent a mass exodus, nearly half of the organizations surveyed are implementing special retention processes to keep their employees.

“Offering competitive salaries for the market is important to employees, however, compensation alone is not sufficient for a complete retention strategy,” said Susan R. Meisinger, SPHR, president and CEO of SHRM. “Career-development opportunities and work/life balance are important for today’s employee, and employers must consider these types of issues in their retention practices if they want to develop successful organizations.”

I would also add that employee/manager relationships are also a MAIN reason why people are looking to leave. As I chomped on some juicy turkey thursday at my in-laws, the topic of conversation seemed to be how everyone hated their boss. A couple of people mentioned how insane their boss' behavior is getting and how it's affecting their work. One relative said that her boss would snap at him everytime he walked into her office to give her something. The last time he went into her office, just before Thanksgiving, she was pounding the keyboard in anger because of some computer error. Needless to say, she quickly dismissed him with a groan and wave of the hand.

It's a real shame since this person used to really love his job as a Credit Manager with a large television network. He's not looking to leave because of money or lack of career path. He's looking to leave because of the relationship with his boss.

I would argue that of the 76% of workers mentioned above, a large percentage of them also want to leave because of treatment they receive from their boss.

Some people just aren't cut out to manage other people. Employers should carefully consider the people they promote, otherwise the mass exodus will continue.