Image Source: The Huffington Post
A job change is inevitable for many people. There are often a myriad of reasons for this change or multiple changes such as learning opportunities, financial benefits or work place difficulties. Recent studies show there are more reasons responsible for the decision to switch jobs in addition to the more popular reasons.
Social media hasn’t just changed our views on pop culture, but also individual careers prospects. Employees are now open to more career opportunities and information is now readily available to those who seek them. A well thought out profile on a social media platform like LinkedIn, recommends jobs to individuals who have alternatives to choose from. While this is an advantage to employees, their employers are at a disadvantage because of the associated costs that often come with the loss of good employees who have become assets to the organization.
While conventional reasons like financial rewards, promotion prospects and career advancement have been refuted by recent studies, a complete view of the typical picture show a high correlation coefficient when measured against the conventional reasons. According to Brian Kropp, a HR Executive who heads CEB – a Washington-based best practice insight and technology company, “We have learnt that what really affects people is their sense of how they are doing compared with other people in their peer group or where they thought they would be at certain point in their life”.
On the other hand, employers are minimizing the risks associated with the sudden departure of employees, and are adopting strategies to keep the effect of additional labour turnover lower. Some of the combative mechanisms employed to pre-empt a possible job switch by an employee include the use of technology to track employees’ behavioral pattern, observing prospective job changers response to counter offers and monitoring the activities of their employees on social media.
Since the reasons employees switch jobs are changing and employers are trying to keep up with their employees’ behaviours, one can say we haven’t seen the last of this unique interface between employees and their employers as a human resource trend.
