Better pay has overtaken job satisfaction as the key reason employees look to change jobs, as the rising cost of living “bites”.
This is according to a report by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), which found that more than half of workers (54%) cite their top reason for wanting to change jobs as increasing their salary and benefits.
Last year, job satisfaction was the top reason that workers wished to change jobs, with 61% rating it as the most important factor. However, this has now fallen to 42%.
The CIPD puts this shift down to the “erosion” of take-home pay, with 36% of the 2,000 employees surveyed reporting that their standard of living had worsened over the past six months, and one in five saying that keeping up with bills and financial commitments was a constant struggle.
Ben Willmott, senior public policy adviser at the CIPD, commented: “Employees are feeling the squeeze as a result of pay freezes or low pay settlements that fail to keep up with inflation.
“Besides being more likely to want to leave for more pay elsewhere, workers with financial difficulties are also more likely to report being under stress at work and are typically less satisfied with their jobs. Prolonged exposure to stress is associated with absence from work, higher levels of accidents and higher incidence of mental ill health.
“It is, therefore, in employers’ interests to support employees in tough times through ensuring line managers are equipped with effective people management skills and by providing advice and support on debt management and financial planning.”
The survey also found that employee engagement, calculated by adding together different measures of engagement such as job satisfaction and understanding of organisational purpose, was highest in the voluntary sector (+33) and lowest in the public sector (-12).
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