Marco Nink had his 25th service anniversary on Friday. Pa Sinyan has been with us for 15 years. When they talk about Gallup, the polling company they work for, they use phrases like “I have a lot of freedom and can do what I’m good at: work with numbers”, “I work with my best friends” and “My manager is there for me when it matters most”. Headhunters keep calling the two pollsters, but they reject the offers.
According to their own survey, Link and Sinyan are quite the exception. Gallup has just discovered that 23 percent of employees in Germany no longer want to work for their current employer in a year. 42 percent want to take the plunge within three years. “Never before have there been so many people looking for jobs or open to change,” said Sinyan, Gallup’s director of offices in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Many factors are to blame for this, but above all they are: bad bosses. “There is only a small proportion of workers who experience good leadership in the workplace.”
More employees than in the USA are looking for a job in this country
According to the latest survey of 1,500 employees in Germany, 14 percent are already actively looking for a new job. That is twice as many employees as in the previous year and even more than in the USA. Americans are traditionally more willing to change jobs than Germans, after all, a lifelong corporate career was long considered the big goal in life in this country, people proudly called themselves Siemensians or Audians and wanted to stay that way until they retired. Now, with the so-called “Great Resignation,” a wave of layoffs is rolling through the country in the United States, but the proportion of German employees who are actively looking for a new job is four percentage points higher.
The strong willingness to change jobs is also due to the pandemic. On the one hand, changing jobs is easier because many employers allow you to work from your home office and you no longer necessarily have to move to a new job. On the other hand, people give work less priority, making it easier for them to change jobs emotionally. “The pandemic has made people think about what they want out of life,” says Nink, who led the Gallup study. “The importance of work has decreased for many.” At the same time, stress has increased dramatically during the pandemic. 38 percent of employees stated in the survey that they were burned out because of their job. Before Corona, this value was only 26 percent.
Good managers strengthen the bond with the company
The many people who would like to change their jobs are currently encountering a labor market that gratefully accepts them. The shortage of skilled workers is increasing and with it the fight for the best workers, Sinyan calls it in English: “War of Talent”. This is shown by the fact that every third employee has been approached by headhunters or personnel consultants who have tried to poach him or her in the past twelve months. Two years ago there were only half as many.
The only thing that helps against pandemic stress, tempting headhunters, home office loneliness and a general reluctance to work, say Sinyan and Link, are bosses who do their job well, because they can ensure that the emotional bond with the employer is high. Anyone who manages to praise employees enough, to take them seriously as people, to support them and to be there for them will be rewarded, says Link. “Once the needs that people have in the workplace are met, they stay with the company.” By the way, this applies to all generations. Young employees are more willing to change jobs than older ones. If they have good bosses, they stay just as often as older ones.
If many employees have already resigned internally, the company will lose productivity. According to the Federal Statistical Office, the economic costs amount to between 92.9 and 115.1 billion euros annually. “More than ever, companies have to make an effort to create an attractive working environment,” says Sinyan. However, most bosses are not aware of this. “Managers walk through life relatively blind.” 97 percent believe that they lead well. However, only 70 percent of the employees felt well managed. “The image of others and the image of oneself don’t go together.”