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Pandemic as a driver of change: It is not only in the home office that employees think about whether they are in the right job
Photo: Franziska & Tom Werner / Getty Images
The labor market in Germany is getting more and more in motion.
37 percent of those in employment are open to changing jobs - 4 percent more than in 2021. This is shown by a representative survey conducted online by the opinion research institute Forsa in January 2022 among 2523 workers and employees.
Around 1000 participants each came from Germany and Switzerland, the rest from Austria.
The study commissioned by the career network Xing also shows that every fourth person quits their job without having a new job in sight.
Among the 30 to 39 year olds, the willingness to change is particularly high.
Around a tenth of those surveyed have changed jobs since the pandemic began.
Almost a third of the women in this group and a good fifth of the men stated that the corona situation influenced their decision.
From the supply to the demand market
And one in four people claimed to have resigned without having already confirmed a new job. »The labor market is changing from a supply to a demand market. Therefore, despite Corona, it is easier than ever to find a new job in many industries. More and more employees are questioning their work situation during the pandemic and checking very carefully whether their employer still suits them culturally," says Xenia Meuser from New Work SE, to which Xing belongs.
The survey on willingness to change jobs has been conducted regularly for the past ten years and examines employee satisfaction and the reasons why employees change jobs.
Women in particular are open to career changes.
In the previous year, 32 percent were interested in a change, this year it is 38 percent.
However, the study's authors caution, the reason people actually quit isn't necessarily the same reason they're generally interested in switching.
The main thing is more money?
A good half of those surveyed stated that they had already thought about a change in the past year: a good 40 percent mainly because they associated the hope of a higher salary with it (in the case of people under the age of 30 this was even almost 80 percent ). Other reasons: Dissatisfaction with management (38 percent) or direct superiors (30 percent). An indication that there is something about the old human resources evidence that says that employees leave their bosses, not their companies. Almost a third would rather do another job, and one in four missed a meaningful job.
In the case of those who actually changed, it was more "for corporate culture reasons," Xing says.
The type of management played a role for almost a third, as did the work-life balance or, for a quarter, the job.
More money played a role in the actual job change for only one fifth.
It was also asked what employees hope for from an employer: for 59 percent, good management behavior was crucial, closely followed by flexible working hours (57 percent), a higher salary (54 percent), personal fulfillment (52 percent) and the opportunity to work from home or on the go.
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