Four in 10 (40%) employees plan to stay in their current job for less than a year, and this rate is significantly higher (65%) for Gen Z, according to Lever’s 2022 Great Resignation: The State of Internal Mobility and Employee Retention Report. Almost half (46%) of respondents said the greatest motivator for staying at their current company was their salary or potential bonus.
The findings, which were gathered from a survey of 1,200 full-time, employed U.S. adults, revealed that that good PTO and flexible work options (21%), the opportunity for internal mobility (13%), and upskilling/reskilling offerings (8%) were also motivators for staying with their current company. The desire for internal mobility was noteworthy, as the majority (61%) of respondents said they would search for a new role if their company didn’t allow role changes, and even more (65%) said they would leave their organizations altogether if they didn’t allow internal mobility.
Men (48%) were more likely than women (32%) to say they would ask for a role change, while Millennials (43%) were the most likely generation to ask for their role to change, followed by Gen X (40%), Gen Z (36%), and Baby Boomers (29%). Respondents from Gen Z indicated that a sense of purpose in a role was critical, and more than 4 in 10 (42%) would rather be at a company that gives them a sense of purpose than one that pays more. Conversely, the majority of Millennials (49%) and Gen Xers (56%) would rather work for a company that pays more than one that gives them a sense of purpose.
Over a third (35%) of respondents want their organizations to prioritize flexibility, followed by internal mobility (20%), Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) (16%), and hiring (13%). And more than half (52%) would consider returning to a former employer, with better benefits (29%) being the most-cited reason.
