North American Workers Gear Up for Exodus

The economy is stabilizing, according to USA Today -- but fewer workers are staying happy with their jobs.

As a result job hopping will gain in popularity this year.

This was pronounced by Novations Selection, Development and Communication Division, a performance improvement firm. Other surveys back these findings, such as the one by Spherion, which quotes a study by the Saratoga Institute saying "more than one third of all administrative support staff voluntarily leave their jobs before their first-year anniversary."

The following motivations are cited: dissatisfaction with pay, pent-up demand and burnout. The last is fueled by production pressures and downsizing. However, the article mentions that the rate of layoffs have slowed.

This is certainly not something that is easy to adapt to. Unless turnover is carefully managed, companies may well find themselves short of a reliable, permanent onshore staff.

Overseas, BPOs habitually have a high turnover rate. But onshore, where the management staff of global outsourcing outfits are usually based, this wave may turn out to be a bigger problem.

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