As the job market begins to loosen up, human-resource managers might increasingly be surprised by an announcement from employees they haven’t heard in a while: “I quit.”
In February, the number of employees voluntarily quitting surpassed the number being fired or discharged for the first time since October 2008, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Before February, the BLS had recorded more layoffs than resignations for 15 straight months, the first such streak since the bureau started tracking the data a decade ago. […]
Another factor making it harder for companies to retain employees is the effect of the heavy cost-cutting and downsizing during the downturn on workers’ morale. A survey conducted last summer for the Conference Board, a management research organization, found that the drivers of the drop in job fulfillment included less satisfaction with wages and less interest in work. In 2009, 34.6% of workers were satisfied with their wages, down more than seven percentage points from 1987. About 51% in 2009 said they were interested in work, down 19 percentage points from 1987.
Yahoo! Finance: More Workers Start to Quit
(via Boly Welch)
May 27, 2010 at 3:17 am
this jives with what I’ve heard from friends and associates that managed to hold onto their gigs during the turbulence of the past 3 years. folks are way overworked and burnt toasty. i know for a fact that a number of otherwise healthy and growing companies used economic conditions as an excuse to purge staff – in many cases too deeply. as a freelancer i’ve seen business tick up considerably after an abyssmal ’09. gonna be an interesting year!