Recent reports emerging from the UK and the US has shown that between 20-40% of employees are considering leaving their job – a phenomenon that is known as ‘The Great Resignation’. Although there has been a lot of movement in the Irish jobs market at the moment, there hasn’t been the same level of resignations compared to the US and the UK.
However, this might change in 2022, with 42% of Irish workers intending to resign from their jobs within the next 12 months (this figure was only 21% before the pandemic). Similarly, a survey of Irish workers found that 41% of the 1,000 workers surveyed said that their future career lies outside their current organisation.
Why are people switching jobs?
The pandemic gave people the opportunity to reflect on their jobs and for a lot of people, their priorities changed and the typical 9-5 lifestyle in an office environment was no longer practical. This was particularly true for men, with 36% stating that workplace flexibility was the main reason that they wanted to switch jobs.
Although salary is important, it is no longer the only thing needed to keep employees happy. For example, the current workforce expect more from their employers in terms of work-life balance – not only the option for remote work, but also flexible working hours. If employers fail to take the needs of their workforce into consideration, they may experience high staff turnover because employees will look elsewhere to meet their needs. In Ireland, it will soon be the case that every employee will have the right to request remote working, under proposed new laws.
Another reason why some people wanted to switch jobs was the way their employers treated them during the start of the pandemic. For example, some employees were working longer hours when working from home, often taking on more work while their colleagues were off sick. As a result, people experienced burnout. Employees who were also working from home found it difficult to switch off at the end of the day due to the ‘always on’ culture. As a result, the Tánaiste implemented a code of practice on the right to disconnect from work.
If you think you are ready to switch jobs in 2022, our Recruitment Consultants can help you! We work with a range of different clients who are currently looking for IT professionals in areas such as Software Development, IT Infrastructure & Data Analytics etc. Check out our jobs page or contact us.
Written by Michelle Corry