Survey: Professionals want career growth within firms, not job hunting

MANILA, Philippines – Employers might have something to thank or think about this year as a latest survey revealed that significant number of employees worldwide are ignoring job opportunities elsewhere but prefer to stay with their companies.

Though loyal as it may seem, the surveyed professionals have one thing in common and concern – to get career growth in their companies.

According to a latest survey by global management and consulting firm Accenture, employees today are considering more on creating opportunities with current employers despite low job satisfaction.

It reported that more than half of female business professionals around the world – and a similar percentage of their male counterparts – are dissatisfied with their jobs. However, a significant number planned to stay with their companies and create new opportunities.

The research, which surveyed more than 3,400 professionals in 29 countries, compared responses of equal numbers of women and men and found that fewer than half (43 percent of women and 42 percent of men) of all respondents are satisfied with their current jobs, but nearly three-quarters (70 percent of women and 69 percent of men) plan to stay with their companies.

Overall, the study found that the top reasons for respondents’ dissatisfaction are: being underpaid (cited by 47 percent of women versus 44 percent of men); a lack of opportunity for growth (36 percent versus 32 percent); no opportunity for career advancement (33 percent versus 34 percent); and feeling trapped (29 percent versus 32 percent).

Despite this, more than half of respondents (59 percent of women and 57 percent of men), said that in an effort to enhance their careers, they will work on developing their knowledge and/or a skill set to achieve their career objectives this year.

“Today’s professionals are not job hunting, despite expressing dissatisfaction,” said Adrian Lajtha, chief leadership officer at Accenture. “Instead, they are focused on their skill sets and on seeking the training, the resources and the people that can help them achieve their goals. Leading companies should support these efforts by listening to employees and providing them with innovative training, leadership development and clearly-defined career paths.”

Yet for many Filipino professionals, the story hasn’t changed. It is still more on seeking outside opportunities for better pay, work-life balance, skills development and career growth.

This explains why Philippine respondents differed significantly from their global counterparts. Most of them (80 percent) are dissatisfied with their jobs and are willing to seek better opportunities elsewhere, (56 percent of women and 72 percent of men).

Philippine-specific findings indicated that the Filipino workforce is looking for better compensation, benefits and work-life balance. Philippine employers would do well, therefore, to focus on efforts addressing these three key employee retention and engagement drivers, Accenture said.

Manolito Tayag, country managing director of Accenture Philippines, said employers need to work with its employees to find opportunities for them to grow both on a professional and personal level.

Tayag claimed that is the reason on why Accenture, in addition to the numerous training programs made available, encourages its more than 21,000 employees in the Philippines to participate and play active roles in various internal special interest clubs and activities.

Despite a low job satisfaction, 65 percent of the Philippine workforce surveyed wants to increase their knowledge and develop their skill sets. More than half of the respondents also consider career planning a major priority this year. In fact, 60 percent of respondents are still not satisfied with their current career levels and 15 percent target to hold C-level positions in the future.

“Executives should view the insights emerging from this research as an opportunity to engage their employees and help them become more successful,” commented Nellie Borrero, Inclusion & Diversity lead at Accenture. “As those employees look to reinvent opportunity, companies can help them by creating a culture of mentoring, developing diverse teams that provide new experiences and offering volunteer opportunities that engage their people and expand employee networks.”

The research methodology was based on an online survey of 3,400 business executives from medium to large organizations across 29 countries, namely: Argentina , Australia , Austria , Brazil , Canada , China , Denmark , Finland , France , Germany , India , Ireland , Italy , Japan , Malaysia , Mexico , Netherlands , Norway , Philippines , Russia , Singapore , South Africa , South Korea , Spain , Sweden , Switzerland , Turkey , United Kingdom and United States .

A minimum of one hundred respondents from each country participated. Respondents were split evenly by gender and were balanced by age and level in their organizations.

25 April 2011

Tam Noda

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