Sure, there are many signs that the job market is stirring. But who could have guessed that as many as half of workers believe their boss is looking for a new job? Such openly known activity is quite staggering.
Right Management surveyed more than 793 employees throughout North America via an online poll and found that 27 percent are convinced their boss is job hunting and another 21 percent think it is probable. Just 40 percent do not think so, and 12 percent do not know.
The findings are consistent with other recent surveys indicating that the great majority of workers say they are looking for a new job. To some extent the findings may be taken at face value, but may also be a sign of the widespread frustration with the job market. Raises and promotions have been slow in coming and new opportunities scarce amid uncertain business conditions. So the desire to be in a better-paying or challenging position may express itself by an intention to move elsewhere.
Scanning the job market for opportunities may reflect the new normal in today’s workplace. Today, everyone is sort of job hunting. Organization’s declared years ago that employees are responsible for managing their own careers and people have been told consistently by career experts to have an updated resume and practice networking both inside and out of the organization. And there are countless job boards where resumes may be posted, anonymously or otherwise.
It’s not clear all this is the same as real job hunting, but it may help explain the high percentages in this and similar surveys.
Online job boards no doubt play a role in the trend toward non-stop job hunting. Boards have replaced recruiters and search consultants for a new generation of workers. It used to be that employees could rely on the confidentiality in working with recruiting professionals. Job boards, on the other hand, are pretty public. Even when a resume is posted anonymously, it doesn’t require a lot of ingenuity to search out postings from one’s own organization or to deduce who else in one’s department may be floating his or her resume on the Internet. And social networking sites such as LinkedIn are implicit job boards. No wonder nearly everyone today presumes everyone else is looking for a job.
Supervisors and managers need to be circumspect when looking at new job opportunities. It hardly needs saying that if employees think their boss might jump ship, it’s going to be twice as hard to get them engaged in their work. And someone entrusted with a supervisory position owes at least this much discretion to the employer.
The new findings should come as no surprise to senior management. By now all organizations are certainly aware their workers are restless and may move on once the economy picks up. There may be a limit to what employers are able to do in the meantime.
Nevertheless, one good step would be to have sincere discussions about their aspiration and their role in the success of the organization. Be open and get the issues on the table. Honesty may prove to be the best path to building engagement and commitment.
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Kathryn Nell is a consultant for Right Management’s Northeast Talent Management Practice. Right Management (www.right.com) is the talent and career management expert within ManpowerGroup. Reach her at Kathryn.nell@right.com.
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