03.02.2021

More than a third of people planning to quit their jobs, as promotions drop by 48% during pandemic

A learning and development platform has revealed that there have been 48% fewer promotions during the pandemic.

The platform, HowNow, surveyed 2,040 working UK professionals about workplace development in the last 12 months and only 24% of those surveyed said they had seen promotions on their team in the last year. When asked how this compared to 2019, 72% said that there had been promotions in the previous year, indicating a 48% drop in promotions during the pandemic.

To investigate possible reasons behind this, the platform also asked about learning and development during the pandemic. More than half of people (52%) stated that their training had stopped completely since the pandemic, while a further 23% said that it had ‘significantly decreased’. The average company spent 67% less on staff training in the last 12 months compared to the previous year.

HowNow discovered that this could lead to many wanting to quit their jobs with more than a third (35%) of those surveyed confirming they are “actively looking for other opportunities”. A lack of growth was selected as one of the main reasons employees were wanting to quit their job (42%). Although the most popular reason was stress related (60%), followed by a clash with management (51%).

When broken down into ages, those between 35 and 44, were the most likely (35%) to receive a promotion and employees aged 55+ the least likely (14%). While people aged between 25-34 were most likely to be looking to quit their job with more than half of them (54%) stating that they were actively looking for other opportunities.

When analysing Google Search trends, HowNow also noticed that searches related to job vacancies spiked in January and February 2020 and are on the rise again this January. Indicating a strong appetite from employees to move on at the start of the year, while searches for career development peak in February.

Searches related to job promotions peaked in autumn last year, indicating that the decision by many to look for a new job in January is not impulsive, but one which employees have been considering for months.

Nelson Sivalingam, CEO and Co-Founder of HowNow, said: “Through the initial stages of the pandemic when redundancies were rising, we were seeing a lot of people that were simply grateful to still have a job. However, as we approach a year since the first lockdown, that appreciation has worn off, and those that are unsatisfied now appear to be stepping up their job search.

“We know the last year has been tough on a lot of businesses and in many cases learning and development opportunities may have been pushed to one side. However, in the current environment where changing a job is essentially; same home, different Zoom call, and the switching costs are not as high, it is even more important to engage and retain employees by investing in their continued learning and development. By giving them the opportunity to improve their skills and rewarding this development with promotion incentives, you’ll stand a much better chance of keeping your employees.”

To find out more, and view HowNow’s tips for upskilling while working remotely visit: https://gethownow.com/blog/learning-and-development-key-to-retaining-dissatisfied-employees-in-2021/

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