Two in Five UK Workers Are Currently Planning to Move Roles in New Study

• 39.8% of UK workers surveyed are planning to leave their existing roles.
• The majority (27.6%) of those workers looking to move, cite wanting a better salary, rewards and benefits as their main reason for the decision.
• The second most popular reason for moving roles is feeling overworked and understaffed, with 24.2% of employees stating this is the driver for their decision.
• Following this, 15.4% cite unhappiness with management as their main reason for wanting to move roles, 13.5% cite a lack of opportunity/progression, and 10% cite disagreeing with company culture/values.

A new survey reveals that 39.8% of the UK workforce are currently looking to move to a new job role. Despite ‘The Great Resignation’ starting back in 2021, these results highlight that labour movement will continue through 2022. 

Analysts at Brook Corporate Developments have narrowed down the main reasons that workers choose to leave an organisation. 

The main reason for moving roles, cited by 27.6% of those planning to move, is looking for a higher salary, better rewards and more benefits.

Here are some tips to reduce the amount of employee dissatisfaction with salaries and benefits from Brook Corporate Developments:

• Increase transparency within your business, create bands and be open with what people are paid. Ensure that there is no disparity in pay between genders and be ethical with how you are paying your employees. 
• Schedule in regular pay reviews and create comprehensive progression plans; even  consider a profit share if this is feasible. If you don’t have the capacity to increase wages or create profit shares, give praise and recognition by looking into rewarding staff with additional days off, or other benefits.
• Monitor competitors. Are they paying more, and do they offer shorter working weeks? Some companies in competitive industries have introduced four day working weeks. Look at their social media feeds and job advertisements to gauge this and work out how you can provide the benefits that will help to retain company talent. 

24.2% of those surveyed felt overworked and understaffed in their current job. As more staff leave the business, the remainder feel overworked, resulting in further resignations and staff walkouts.

15.4% of employees are unhappy with the management strategies in place at their current organisation. This can be down to a number of factors, including role conflict, work overload and even poor organisation skills. 

To improve your current management strategies, seek input and ideas from all of your employees. Decisions are often made by senior staff members without seeking input from junior employees. Your team is likely to have brilliant ideas that can aid business growth and make work life happier.

13.5% of participating workers said they were in search of a new job due to lack of progression opportunities in their current place of employment. 

Ensure that the line managers in your organisation are properly trained to identify and encourage talents within each team member. Build tailored progression plans that set out clear objectives and goals for each staff member, leaving time to implement these development plans.

Despite the BBC highlighting that workers are resigning due to ethics and value differences, only one in ten UK employees searching for a new role said that they are considering moving job roles due to disagreeing with current company values. 

To prevent employees leaving due to a misalignment of values, focus on what you’re delivering to workplace culture. For many workers, when values are matched, levels of performance increase. 

When hiring new employees, ensure the person’s values align with your business’. When establishing company values, ensure that they are both ethical and societal.

Dom Brook, Managing Director at Brook Corporate Developments said: “The labour market has seen huge movement though 2021 and into 2022. People often double-down in their roles when a recession hits, causing resignations and hiring to slow. As the economy has recovered, UK workers have felt more confident in moving, deciding to switch roles in higher numbers than usual. Many have also had the time to reevaluate what’s important to them, then choosing to look for opportunities more aligned with these new priorities.

“While some may attribute the current labour shortages and understaffing to more people moving industry or deciding to retire, this is only partially true. Some industries have faced shortages due to increased early retirement from workers above 50, but most industries still have a similar number of staff versus pre-pandemic levels. The majority of workers are actually sidestepping within their industry to a competitor business.

“Even if your business hasn’t yet seen resignations, assess your job packages, staff workloads, management, training, progression plans, and general culture/values. Our research highlights that two in five UK workers are currently planning to move roles, so The Great Resignation is still in full swing.

“Business leaders can easily benchmark their benefits against competitors by checking competitor job ads, looking at their websites, and checking their social media feeds. This will quickly highlight whether another business offers a more attractive package. Always aim to stay ahead of your competition, and try not to be too reactive when implementing benefits.

“As an employee, prioritise the reasons that you want to change roles. If your move is driven by salary or other benefits offered elsewhere, these can be renegotiated with your current employer. Issues such as a misalignment of values or disagreements with management are more ingrained in the business, and are reasons to leave – on good terms of course.

“If you have interest from another company and your movement driver is an increased salary, price up the cost of travel and additional time commuting. 

“If you are moving to a company because they are currently working remotely, ensure those hybrid or remote working conditions are included in your contract. While many companies currently offer remote and hybrid working, they may reverse this decision as office work and in-person meetings become more established again.

“Assess whether that new role for a company headquartered far away is worth the extra commute and travel costs if you start commuting daily, and whether the job offer would still be attractive factoring that in.”

About Brook Corporate Developments

Brook Corporate Developments specialises in providing leading business consultancy services including strategy planning. Brook Corporate Developments have previously worked with a range of organisations nationwide, creating bespoke plans to enhance departmental performance, strengthen growth and increase profitability. 

With specially tailored business plans, companies can protect and attain the current talent in their organisation whilst giving their business the direction it needs to achieve success.