Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

StressEmployee engagementLatest NewsIncentivesPay settlements

More employees will look for new jobs in 2020

by Jo Faragher 6 Jan 2020
by Jo Faragher 6 Jan 2020

More than half of workers could be on the move to a new employer this year – up 8% on 2019 – according to Investors in People.

The workplace accreditation body found that 24% are actively looking for a new role, while 32% are considering a move.

Employee engagement & motivation

Essential HR metrics for 2020

Employee motivation 

Its survey revealed that almost two-thirds of employees go to bed on Sunday night feeling dread about going to work the next day.

A quarter are unhappy in their current role, up 10% on last year, while 77% are stressed at work.

Employees cited three main reasons for looking for a new job, highest of which was money (30%), followed by not feeling valued (23%) and wanting a better work-life balance (22%). Fourteen percent said a ‘thank you’ would encourage them to stay in their current position.

Almost two-thirds of staff said that stress around work was affecting their sleep, and a similar proportion felt as though they were always on duty, even at home.

Friendship at work influenced how happy employees were in a role, according to Investors in People. Fifty-four percent said having friends at work was important to them, while a quarter said they stayed in a job because of friendships rather than enjoying the work itself.

Almost half (47%) would rather have a friendly workplace than a 3% pay rise.

Around a fifth (19%) said they had gone through the motions of resigning so they could get a pay rise from their current employer. However, 20% of those employers did not follow through with the rise.

Paul Devoy, CEO of Investors in People, said that – over six years of carrying out research into employees’ intentions – it continued to hear from employees simply wanting a thank you from their employer.

“Thank you [is] something so simple, so consistently important and potentially the best retention tool we’ve got,” he said.

Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance

Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday

OptOut
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

“Doing your best work, knowing you’re in a place where you can grow. To get to the end of the day and feel like you’ve achieved something that is what it means when we invest in people.”

  Performance and Engagement opportunities on Personnel Today

Browse more performance and engagement jobs

Jo Faragher

Jo Faragher has been an employment and business journalist for 20 years. She regularly contributes to Personnel Today and writes features for a number of national business and membership magazines. Jo is also the author of 'Good Work, Great Technology', published in 2022 by Clink Street Publishing, charting the relationship between effective workplace technology and productive and happy employees. She won the Willis Towers Watson HR journalist of the year award in 2015 and has been highly commended twice.

previous post
Landmark ruling: ethical veganism is a philosophical belief
next post
Executive pay ratio reporting an ‘opportunity’ to win employees’ trust

You may also like

How neuroscience can unlock employee recognition

22 May 2025

Why fighting the DEI backlash is about PR...

9 May 2025

Preparing for a new era of workforce planning...

8 May 2025

Prioritising performance management: Strategies for success (webinar)

8 May 2025

Four ways HR can maintain trust in uncertain...

23 Apr 2025

Remote working may have triggered jump in employee...

17 Apr 2025

High performance is not the preserve of ‘superstar’...

3 Apr 2025

Redefining employee relations for the future of work...

27 Mar 2025

Employee engagement: Growing disconnect between effort and recognition,...

13 Mar 2025

Early careers NHS staff increasingly unhappy at work

20 Feb 2025

  • 2025 Employee Communications Report PROMOTED | HR and leadership...Read more
  • The Majority of Employees Have Their Eyes on Their Next Move PROMOTED | A staggering 65%...Read more
  • Prioritising performance management: Strategies for success (webinar) WEBINAR | In today’s fast-paced...Read more
  • Self-Leadership: The Key to Successful Organisations PROMOTED | Eletive is helping businesses...Read more
  • Retaining Female Talent: Four Ways to Reduce Workplace Drop Out PROMOTED | International Women’s Day...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2025

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2025 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+