Fewer Employees Intend To Stay At Their Current Employer

With U.S. unemployment rates remaining at historic lows, and more jobs available than there are people to fill them, U.S. workers are leveraging healthy economic conditions to become more active in their job searches, according to Gartner. Their report shows that only 53 percent of workers worldwide have a high or somewhat high intent to stay in their current positions, compared to 60 percent of workers in 1Q18 who held that same positive intent. This data marks the fifth consecutive quarter that intent to stay has declined globally.

The latest Global Talent Monitor report also highlighted the continued decline of U.S. employees going above and beyond at work. In 3Q18, only 16.3 percent of U.S. workers expressed high levels of discretionary effort, a decline of nearly 8 percent year-over-year, and the largest year-over-year decrease of the 26 global regions surveyed. Just 7.5 percent of the global labor force reported both high discretionary effort and a high intent to stay at their current employer.

Another indication of economic conditions influencing employee behavior comes from wages and bonuses. Gartner’s Global Talent Monitor data shows an increase in workers’ expectations for 2019 salaries and 2018 bonuses. Base pay expectations jumped nearly a full percentage point from last quarter, with workers expecting a wage increase of 3.9 percent in 2019 and anticipating bonus and merit payouts 3.8 percent larger than the previous year.

Gartner recommends that employers should establish strategies to better engage their current workforce while attracting new talent. Companies that deploy a robust Employee Value Proposition are able to distinguish themselves from the competition and better address what employees desire most, such as competitive wages, career development opportunities, work-life balance and workplace stability.