Employees Moving on to New Opportunities Find Lucrative Pay

When the Gen Z demo job hunts, the top two factors they consider when looking at a job opportunity are ‘increased learning opportunities and training. The option to learn new skills and to practice these new skills holds a lot of weight during the job search process. On the other hand, Baby Boomers ranked values alignment and better pay or benefits ahead of learning opportunities.

Leaders in HR are not immune to job burn-out, especially in this employment climate. More than half reported experiencing burn-out in a recent survey. Of those, 72% are hunting for their next job opportunity. The biggest challenge for HR leaders? Managing or implementing leadership demands – even though they may feel supported, typically miscommunication abounds on objectives and goals, leading to obstacles.

The Waste and Recycling industry continues to feel the labor shortage pain. A driver shortage was felt before the pandemic and has been exacerbated since. It costs around $15,700 per driver when dealing with turnover.  Over 50% of respondents to a recent survey of waste and recycling collection applicants reported that earning a better wage was what they’d like to see their company invest in, even over safety/technology, training, and new equipment.

The Great Resignation has also been called the Great Reshuffling, and for good reason – many workers are simply negotiating and moving on to their next great opportunity. In fact, that usually comes with a hefty pay raise. Almost a third of workers that left their jobs to pursue another during the pandemic are making over 30% more than they were in their previous role. Another 20% received a 10-20% increase. Women saw the highest increases, but looking overall, 70% of men had an increase of 10% or more, while 64% of women did. The category of workers most likely to see increases of 30% or more were senior leaders. In addition to pay, workers left their jobs due to overall disappointment, lack of career advancement, and lack of flexibility.

Amazon is now including fully-paid college educations for their 750,000 hourly employees. As part of the company’s Career Choice upskilling initiative, the company is also helping to increase English-speaking skills, helping employees finish high school via GEDs, and giving access to free college prep courses.

In January, there were 11.3 million job openings, a decrease of 1.6% in December…but an increase of 55.7% when compared with last year at that time. Accommodation and food services saw a decline in job openings by 288,000 while transportation, warehousing, and utilities felt a decrease of 132,000. As far as separations went, those were pretty flat, increasing by only .3% month over month, but up 17.1% year over year. The ‘quits’ part of separations fell by 151,000 to 4.3 million in January from December.

The Conference Board Employment Trends Index forecasts a stronger job growth outlook, although at a slower clip with hiring and retention as continued challenges. “So far in 2022, more than 1 million jobs have been gained,” said Frank Steemers, senior economist at The Conference Board. “However, some moderation in job growth is likely in the months ahead — we are now further into the recovery and economic growth rates are projected to decelerate compared to an especially strong 2021. Still, with the labor market being short 2.1 million jobs, returning to pre-pandemic employment levels is likely in 2022.”

Until next week,

Erin and Team BountyJobs