US employees aren't feeling loyal, survey finds
A recent CareerBuilder.com survey of more than 1,600 workers has revealed the most significant factors preventing employees from attaining their career goals, explaining along the way why so many workers now feel little or no loyalty to their employers.
The company's 'Labor Day 2004 Survey' found that 30% of workers are currently dissatisfied with their career progress, and have thoughts of a better career on their mind, adversely impacting their overall job satisfaction scores.
According to Rosemary Haefner, vice president of HR for CareerBuilder.com, "42% of those who are dissatisfied with their career progress say they plan to leave their current positions, with 28% expecting to change jobs before the end of the year. These workers are ready to take advantage of improvements in the labour market this year to overcome career barriers and jump-start their careers."
Top five problems The top five career barriers cited by respondents included:
- A lack of career advancement opportunities with their present employer. Some 27% of workers feel their current organisations do not offer much opportunity to move up the corporate ladder. Moreover, 25% said they have been overlooked for a promotion this year.
- A lack of education, training and experience. Nearly two out of five workers (18%) said they do not have the proper schooling and hands-on experience to reach career goals.
- Inadequate direction from supervisors. Fully 15% of workers said their supervisors do not provide effective mentoring or instruction to help them develop and improve.
- A challenging economy. One in ten (10%) said they feel that a challenging economy is to blame for some doors being closed to them, and that the economy is making it difficult for them to advance their career plans.
- A lack of support from present employers. A smaller but still significant 7% of workers said they don't have a solid support network at their organisation.
Job seekers More than half of those workers who are dissatisfied with their career progress are also not enthusiastic about going to work each day and say they work under a great deal of stress. More than two-thirds of these are dissatisfied with pay, and more than one-third are actively looking for a new job.
The survey was conducted during August 2004. CareerBuilder.com commissioned SurveySite to use an e-mail methodology whereby individuals who are members of the SurveySite Web Panel were randomly selected and approached by e-mail invitation to participate in the online survey.
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