New report identifies the reasons why employees leave, and how to make them stay
More than three in four employees in New Zealand are open to new work opportunities as they search for a backup plan amid recent restructures, according to a new report.
Findings from the Scitex Workforce Report revealed that 77% of New Zealand workers are either actively seeking new opportunities or remaining open to them.
Gareth Robertson, managing director of Scitex, attributed this to the "macro-economic environment" in New Zealand.
"Uncertain economic conditions aren't seen as a safe time for job seekers to be moving employers – but many New Zealanders have clearly considered their backup plan, should their work or employer be impacted," Robertson said in a statement.
The survey, which gathered 2,436 responses, also found that poor management is the most-cited reason why employees want to leave (42%).
"This encompasses bad Managers, lack of support, or leadership failures – essentially, people quit managers, not companies," the report read. "Challenging economic conditions have illuminated alignments or in certain times, misalignments with employees' current Management."
Another highly cited reason is being underpaid, as reasoned by another 42% of respondents, followed by a toxic or bad work environment (31%).
Underpayment does not only cover genuine wage level issues, according to the report, as it can also be out of frustration in their own profession.
"In any case, feeling underpaid is a common reason staff look to leave their current employer, especially in the face of historical costs-of-living increases," the report read.
Meanwhile, another factor that employees seek while searching for new work is stability, following restructures in the country as of late.
Some 43% of employees reported that their employer had restructured in the last 12 months, while 24% said they were personally impacted by it.
"Seeing data suggest four in 10 organisations restructured in the last year isn't a surprise, we saw 'company stability' rise sharply up the list of aspects which job seekers enquire about when considering new roles," Robertson said.
"On the flip side, this represents a superb opportunity for leaders to reflect on their priorities, practices and policies moving forward, to ensure they are desirable for talent to invest their future in – one or two new initiatives can make a huge difference."
Flexibility and work-life balance emerged as the top benefit that employers can offer if they want to retain talent, according to the report.
This comes as 44% of the respondents cited this benefit as their number one reason for staying with their current employer.
This is followed by the level of salary they are paid (31%), having a good team to work with (31%), and the location (26%).
"Employees can find it hard to go back to more traditional and rigid workplaces once they've immersed themselves in and benefited from a flexible workplace – one enabling them to thrive in life overall; moving back to the traditional employer can be a hard pill to swallow," Robertson said.
